THE start to harvest this season has been intermittent at best, with Mother Nature throwing up less than ideal conditions around much of the State.
Rain over the past week has caused delays for many, with falls of more than 40 millimetres hitting farmers up towards Mingenew and Three Springs, while some down in the Southern Coastal and Great Southern areas copped upwards of 25mm.
WA received a bit of a reprieve towards the end of last week and over the weekend, however the showers started again on Monday and were expected to last two or three days, again affecting growers from north to south and east to west.
Crop Circle Consulting agronomist Grant Thompson said in the north there had been some solid hours put on the headers before last week's rain.
"A fair bit of canola has come off, as well as a little bit of early sown wheat and lupins," Mr Thompson said.
"However, the rain that occurred last week put a halt to proceedings, with on and off scattered showers from Tuesday to Friday last week and cumulative rainfall between 13mm and 45mm definitely enough to put a stop to harvest for a few days.
"There was also a little strip of hail that went though west of Northampton that did a bit of damage and that cell may have moved further east, towards Chapman Valley and Yuna, however it wasn't as severe in those areas."
For Mingenew farm Geoff Cosgrove, harvest kicked off on October 11, and he was making progress with canola and wheat before the rain.
"We went from Monday through to Monday, then we had between 25mm and 50mm of rain which stopped us doing anything from Tuesday to Saturday last week," Mr Cosgrove said.
"We were finally able to get going again on Sunday, but then the rain started once more on Monday and we had to stop.
"We're going to move farms to hopefully chase some drier weather, but when we get going again is really going to depend on the weather as there are showers forecast all week."
While the rain has undoubtedly been frustrating for farmers, it was the strong gusts of wind that came through at the same time which have been cause for more concern.
There was a fair bit of canola that shattered in the north from the wind, as well as a little bit of barley head loss.
"There will be some pre-harvest losses due to the wind, as there are a few pods on the ground around the place," Mr Thompson said.
"In terms of grain quality, the rain may contribute to some fungal staining in wheat, while for any lupin crops that were fully mature it will potentially cause reduction in germination and or vigour of the lupin seed.
"The grain of the canola I've had a look at still seems to be alright at this stage, so hopefully it dries out fairly quickly and growers can get back into it."
That sentiment was echoed by Mr Cosgrove who noticed a bit of sprouted grain in his wheat, plus he did also lose a little bit of canola in the wind on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, so his greatest drama right now is not being able to get back onto it while it's shedding.
"I would love to get a proper run up and really get into it," he said.
"The good thing is that we're getting plenty of other jobs done, with all the little bits and pieces that usually get ignored are being sorted out as we go.
"It's going to be a long harvest and at the rate we're moving, I doubt we'll be done before Christmas - we've done 1200ha so far, but we've got nearly 9500ha to go."
While the rain hasn't had much of an impact in terms of damage, it has obviously slowed things right down and halted the harvest process.
That may be a nuisance for those who were already underway, but for farmers further south, there will be some value in that rain for later sown crops.
Independent agronomist Michael Lamond said the cool temperatures associated with the rain have had a great impact in that it has slowed down the ripening and allowed for crops to fill fairly well where they weren't ripe yet.
"The continued cool weather is going to have a really big impact when it comes to holding tonnages up around the State," Mr Lamond said.
"It's pretty unheard of and where the crops still have subsoil moisture, those cooler temperatures will help with slow grain fill which contributes to grain size and can add a lot of weight.
"Even in the central and northern areas, the yields will probably be better than we thought a couple of weeks ago and around the State, 19 million tonnes is definitely achievable."
The rain also hasn't impacted all growers in the northern region, with some still yet to get underway and therefore not affected by the showers.
Nabawa grower Robert Kupsch said they had been using the past couple of weeks to finish up a few jobs before they get into the swing of things.
"We got 25mm out of the last lot of rain last week which definitely halted any thoughts of getting going, but we usually don't get started until Melbourne Cup time as a rule anyway, so we're not far away now," Mr Kupsch said.
"We'll get into the canola first, then might have a few lupins to come off and then if there is any wheat ready to go we'll get into that, but it'll all be subject to what's ready first.
"There's always a concern about quality when it rains, but it really depends on how much rain you end up getting - it's one of those things that if you jag it right, it's great, but if you miss the window, you miss it and there's not much you can do about it."
In the north, where headers have been in and tonnages have started to be calculated, initial indications are looking very positive.
"Yields are looking robust and very impressive, definitely above average for the region, so at this stage growers are pretty happy," Mr Thompson said.
"Obviously we would like to be harvesting without the stoppages, so at this stage I think it will be a longer harvest than usual as there is just so much grain out there and it's going to take longer than normal in order to get all of that off.
"It also really depends on the capacity of CBH - there are some very large crops out there, so it's likely all going to bottleneck when harvest really ramps up."
While harvest may drag on for longer than usual, Mr Cosgrove won't be complaining as it means he's looking at some seriously impressive crops.
"Overall the crops are looking fantastic, it's really looking like our best ever year both in terms of yield result and the prices that are going," he said.
"We just finished the wheat on the home block and that's averaged a shade over four tonnes per hectare, which is about 1t better than we've ever done.
"Canola has been about average, but we've probably done the worst of it so far, so that will get better as we go on and there's obviously a lot of dollars in that, so it's all happy days."
Around the State, as of Monday morning, CBH Group had received a total of 338,508t, with the majority (229,554t) coming from the Geraldton zone, followed by 57,766t in Kwinana North and 49,805t in Esperance.
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