Wet paddocks hamper efforts to harvest remaining summer crop

Brendan Taylor, AgForce grains section president, said there were still significant hectares of the 2021-22 plant left to be harvested.

"We've got some sorghum crops where they are still standing in water, so harvest isn't going to happen any time soon, it is still a matter of waiting for some good drying weather," Mr Taylor said.

"Obviously sitting there in a wet paddock is not going to do wonders for crop quality and there is going to be a large amount of shelling so you'd imagine there will be yield losses as well, so it is very frustrating, especially when crops harvested before the rain yielded so well," he said.

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However, he said there was some consolation in that the crops would still likely be harvestable and that there was still good value in lower quality paygrades

"Yield and quality will both be back on what they were but we've seen in other years that crops can be harvested in July or even August and there is still a saleable product there."

"Prices come back a fair way when you go down to a sorghum 2 but it is still pretty good money on a historical basis, it is just thinking about what could've been if it could have been harvested in a timely fashion."

He said the greatest concern was with mung bean crops.

"Beans are not big fans of excess moisture and there are likely to be paddocks that have to be abandoned, there will be substantial quality issues and seed spilling but we'll know more about the extent of that when we are able to get out there."

Mr Taylor said farmers were resisting the temptation to get headers out on paddocks as soon as possible.

"You've got to think of the long term and they would make such a fearful mess of the paddock in terms of the tracks they'd leave that you'd probably have to repair the tracks before planting another crop, so as frustrating as it is people are waiting."

In northern NSW Oscar Pearse, Moree, said there had also been delays due to rain which had stretched the double cropping window to the limit.

"With the summer crop harvest taking so long it has created logistical challenges for the winter plant, so people are working around that and maybe changing to shorter season winter crops or holding on for the upcoming summer plant," Mr Pearse said.

"It is certainly very wet and that is throwing up a number of challenges we don't often deal with in this part of the world."