WA growers are reaping larger rewards than expected due to this year’s late season rain, with State production now expected to reach 13.48 million tonnes.
According to the Grain Industry Association of WA’s (GIWA) latest crop report, total State crop tonnages have risen 9.4 per cent since last month and will exceed August predictions by more than 3mt.
WA grain growers are tipped to produce close to 7.4mt of wheat, 3.4mt of barley, 1.8mt of canola, 508,000 tonnes of oats, 380,000t of lupins and 47,000t of field peas.
Canola has seen a 33pc jump in estimates since November due to greater areas being harvested than expected in the northern grainbelt, while wheat and barley estimates have jumped 7pc.
GIWA oilseeds council chairman and crop report author Michael Lamond said most growers across the WA grainbelt had been pleasantly surprised by their yields across all grains.
He said cereal weight had been exceptional and had greatly influenced the extra tonnes being harvested.
“Pretty well everywhere – particularly in the lower rainfall areas in Geraldton and Kwinana – most growers have just got that extra 100 kilogram or 200kg in their crops and it has just added up,” Mr Lamond said.
“After speaking with growers and consultants, I don’t think we’ve ever seen such a significant late-season improvement, it’s very unusual to get such a good finish.
“All of the consultants and everyone I speak to say they all knew it was going to be better than it looked, but grain size has made a huge difference and I don’t think anyone could have thought it was going to be this good.
“It’s a good story, profitability for a lot of growers is going to be good this year.”
As harvest continues to unfold, Mr Lamond said there was potentially greater upside to December estimates of up to 400,000t.
He said most of this was predicted to come from the Esperance and Albany zones.
“In the Esperance port zone there’s a lot stored on-farm at the moment because of the queues at the bins,” Mr Lamond said.
“Albany I think will be the same, they’re breaking records all through the zone as far as daily deliveries go, so guys are just chucking them in bags for the time being.
“Most of that upside will probably be in barley estimates, because there’s a lot of barley grown in that Albany zone.”
While yields have been positive, quality has been an issue across most regions due to low protein wheat and barley crops.
Mr Lamond said low protein had been a result of lower than normal fertiliser use from the start of the season and dilution from extra yield.
Rain events during harvest have also impacted quality in isolated areas, with germ end staining recorded in barley samples, particularly along the south coast.
