IT WILL be a markedly different situation from last year for many of the nation’s croppers.
While last year’s drought-impacted harvest was largely wound up, allowing for a leisurely Christmas Day for farmers in all but the most southern areas, this year it is still full steam ahead for many.
The harvest is virtually finished in Queensland and winding up in northern NSW, but in South Australia, Victoria and southern NSW things remain in full swing.
The strong deliveries were borne out by GrainCorp data.
GrainCorp operations manager Nigel Lotz said this week saw the company crack 10 million tonnes in receivals overall.
Victoria overtook NSW for the largest amount of deliveries in the past week, due to a combination of rain delays and northern farmers winding up in NSW.
It is the first time since 2012-13 the company has cracked the 10mt mark, and with significant tonnages still to come in through Victoria and southern NSW the figure will continue to rise.
Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Brett Hosking said things were proceeding well, but added weather conditions and high yields meant the crop was taking longer than anticipated to get off.
“Harvesters need to drive slower because there is so much grain coming in, so it is a good problem to have.”
“Harvesting hours have also been a bit limited, it has been dewy and often quite cold in the mornings for this time of year so people have not been able to get going particularly early.”
In good news a weather event on Monday night, predicted to deliver 5-10mm in cropping regions only registered less than 5mm through much of Victoria, meaning harvest was not significantly delayed.
Further north, Riverina farmer Mark Hoskinson said rain had caused some delays.
“There were isolated patches in the Riverina that had up to five inches (125mm) of rain last week, and plenty of places had between 25 and 50mm.”
He said while it had stopped work for a couple of days, growers who had received the lower totals were confident they would not incur significant quality damage.
“Crops are starting to get a funny, black look to them, but prior to this test weights had been really good, so hopefully there will not be any major cases of downgrading.”
Mr Lotz said there were reports of extremely heavy rain in the Dubbo area, but added many farmers had already finished harvest in that area.
“There was up to 100mm in quick time around Dubbo which is a worry for those that have not finished.
“We will also be closely monitoring the quality profile in the Riverina after the rain event.”
As of Tuesday, he said harvest had resumed in that area but added it was too early to tell if there was major downgrading.
In South Australia, Darren Arney, chief executive of Grain Producers South Australia (GPSA) said farmers on the Eyre Peninsula were winding up, but said in the south-east harvest was barely underway.
“There will be an awful lot of grain not coming off until the New Year,” he said.
Quality-wise, the South Australian crop has been generally sound with only some pockets of frost damage in the Mid North.
The good production has largely compensated for the low prices, with Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) chief economist Ross Kingwell saying the gross value of Australian farm production will surpass $60 billion in 2016-17 for the first time ever.
“The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates Australia’s 2016-17 wheat crop to be a record 33.0 million metric tonnes, up 8.5 mmt or 35% from last year.”
Heat looms as the major obstacle to harvest through south-eastern Australia over the next week.
Stephen King, duty forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said temperatures were expected to push into the 40s in SA, northern Victoria and southern NSW over the Christmas period.
Longer term a decaying tropical cyclone coming down from the Kimberley region could present a chance of rain, but Mr King said it was too far out to accurately predict the likelihood of rain closer to New Year’s Day.