THE worst drought in 20 years is having a devastating impact on some Wheatbelt farms.
Hines Hill farmer Bob Heinrich is one of the farmers hit hard by the drought.
He said he would only harvest about half of his crop as the other half was in such a bad state it was not worth harvesting.
“In a good year we can get up to two tonnes per hectare, but this year we’ll get 0.2 of a tonne or less and that’s in the better paddocks,” he said.
On Mr Heinrich’s farm, wheat which should be two feet high and green at this time of year is languishing at less than one foot high and turning brown.
“Up until two or three weeks ago I still had hope, because a decent rain back then would have led to some decent crops,” he said.
“But the rain didn’t come and the seeds are not forming and it’s just literally dying in front of our eyes.”
He said the harvest would be so small it would only take about three weeks to complete and then he would start looking for work elsewhere to take up the rest of the summer.
But work might be scarce as harvest jobs are drying up just as fast as the crops in the Wheatbelt.
“This season is probably going to be equivalent to 2001/02, which was one of the worst years I’ve ever had,” Mr Heinrich said.
“I usually cart between 50 and 70 semi trailer loads of wheat to CBH each year, but that year I only carted four loads, despite harvesting 2000 hectares of crop.
“That was fairly devastating.”
He said this year could be similar and he didn’t even know if he would harvest enough wheat to make up for what he planted in the first place and to put in a crop next year.
Much of the grain will be so small it will be screened out for poultry feed.
He said he wouldn’t be able to buy fertiliser for next year, but expected to continue on good terms with the bank.
“I’m glad I have 3000 sheep to fall back on, but there are lots of farmers that haven’t even got stock so it makes it harder for them,” he said.
“We’ve been having problems for the past 10 years and we just can’t seem to catch up.”
Mr Heinrich remained philosophical about the disappointing harvest and said he still believed better years were coming.
The hand of fate has touched farmers throughout the Wheatbelt differently, so not everyone is facing a devastating harvest this year, but all agree it is certainly well below average.
According to CBH Kwinana zone manager Brett Jeffrey, 68 of the 110 receival sites won't open this year.
“Our seasonal staff numbers will be down by 60 per cent which isn't good for the local communities because we can't employ their children this year,” he said.
“Farmers are varied in their outlook, some are optimistic but then there are those around Kulin who have written off this year's harvest and are looking to next year.”
The current forecast for this season's total crop has dropped again to 5.9 million tonnes which, if accurate at harvest, will make it WA's fourth smallest crop in the past 20 years.
