Big harvest figures despite weather woes

However, while there was good grain production across the country farm leaders warn that the high input price and the dip in yield projections during the season, felt most keenly on the east coast, mean that many businesses will have only just broken even for the year.

The near perfect conditions in Western Australia and South Australia saw records smashed across the two states both in terms of individual commodities and for overall production.

Nationally, James Maxwell, Australian Crop Forecasters senior manager, said his organisation's last estimate was for a national wheat crop of just over 35 million tonnes, but added he felt there was further room for upside.

"In South Australia and Western Australia in particular things could go up further from what we've got," Mr Maxwell said.

The official Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences number is for 36.6m tonnes of wheat, which would be a national record if achieved.

Mr Maxwell had the breakdown as 2.1m tonnes in Queensland, 9.8m tonnes in NSW, 5.2m tonnes in Victoria, a record 6.2m tonnes in SA and 11.8m tonnes in WA.

"Given what we have been hearing towards the tail end of harvest in WA and SA those figures there could easily go up as the final amount of grain comes off, particularly in South Australia where it could easily push 6.5m tonnes," he said.

"There were some yield losses from the rain, but it has probably been overall just a tiny bit better than expected at the end of October when everything was very wet.

"We've actually had not a bad harvest period with relatively few rain interruptions so that has helped."

Mr Maxwell said there would be national barley production of 13m tonnes and canola tonnes would be around 7.5m tonnes, a new record.

"WA alone is set to produce 4.1m tonnes, which used to be a pretty large crop for the entire country."

Mr Maxwell said focus was now switching to crop quality and marketing.

"It has been an interesting year, there generally has not been a lot of high protein wheat but there does not appear to have been the increase in spreads we thought might happen.

"Equally, those with feed wheat are seeing a relatively settled price."

Across the country there were a range of emotions surrounding the harvest, with some farm leaders reporting near ideal conditions and others expressing frustration at the way the year panned out.

QUEENSLAND: AgForce grains section president Brendan Taylor said it had been a slow winter crop harvest but yields had generally been rewarding.

"It's been slow and difficult with wet paddocks at the start of harvest and issues with lodged crops but generally there have been some really good yields," Mr Taylor said.

"The caveat within that has been the massive cost of production, we've needed these type of yields just to break even and there is probably a bit of frustration at the yield we've left behind due to excess moisture in crop and the disease burden that went with it," he said.

Mr Taylor said the focus was now on the summer crop, which ironically is in need of some rain in southern Queensland.

"The early sown crops look really good but the later sown stuff needs rain, which would have seemed ridiculous at the start of November."

"We've seen really heavy rain hit Central Queensland, which will probably cause issues with their summer crop, but none of it has pushed south.

"We needed a dry spell to help us get back on the paddocks but now it has gone on for a while and farmers are probably looking for a drink, although not the flooding amounts we saw last year."

NSW: NSW Farmers grains committee chairman Justin Everitt said the season in NSW had been the proverbial 'mixed bag'.

"We've had everything from exceptional yields to wash-outs and all things in between," Mr Everitt, who farms in the Riverina in the south of the state, said.

"The year has really been categorised by the variation, not just from region to region or district to district but right down to a paddock by paddock level," he said.

"It's also been really difficult to predict, we've seen some crops going better than anticipated and some worse and there hasn't been one particular crop type that has fared better than another, it has genuinely been very patchy."

"Given the high cost of production it has been a really stressful season and very difficult for farmers to manage given we really didn't have any idea how the wet weather was impacting crops."

VICTORIA: Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Ashley Fraser echoed Mr Everitt's calls of a mixed bag for croppers.

"There is a definite line, east of Bendigo a lot of crops really struggled, I'd expect the north-east and North Central regions to be 50 per cent down on what we expected at the end of winter when things looked really good," Mr Fraser said.

"Contrasting that we have had a really good year in the Mallee and northern Wimmera where conditions were that little bit drier, with crops markedly above long term averages," he said.

In the Western District Paul Mibus, east of Hamilton, said it had been a slow harvest with some yield losses but said things had generally been reasonable.

"We are in a high rainfall zone so we get wet quite a bit, rain during the season has meant some erratic results but the better paddocks where disease and waterlogging did not impact as much have been quite good," Mr Mibus said.

"Quality is not as big a deal in wheat here as a lot of what we grow is red wheat for feed anyway," he said.

Mitch Jackson and Grace Austin, working for the Herrmann family at Tabor, also east of Hamilton, said harvest had been painstakingly slow but worthwhile.

"It's taking a long time but there is generally plenty of grain there," Mr Jackson said.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA:

Grain Producers South Australia board member John Gladigau, Alawoona, near Loxton, said it had been a memorable season in his part of the northern Mallee.

"The season was notable for legumes in particular, lentils, chickpeas, lupins and field peas all benefited from the late rain," Mr Gladigau said.

"It was incredible, there was 11 inches (275mm) for September to November, and 130mm in October alone."

"A lot of people are recording their best ever legume yields."

On the cereal front Mr Gladigau said the year was comparable to 2016.

"There was a bit of rust in some crops that pushed yields down slightly and two hail storms in late October and early November caused damage, especially in barley which was the ripest crop, but overall it is has been a good year for the region."

Elsewhere in the state there is a similarly positive story, with virtually all regions recording markedly above average yields.

As of Monday, Viterra reported it had received 8.45 million tonnes, with records broken in the organisation's western zone centred on the Eyre Peninsula.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA:

PGA Western Graingrowers chairman Gary McGill said it had been an old-fashioned bin burster in the west.

"All the stories you hear in the mid wheatbelt of records were true, everyone you speak to has had a really good result," Mr McGill said.

"The interesting bit is that it was not limited to the higher yielding areas, we had great results up in the north and also out into the eastern wheatbelt," he said.

"In fact, in terms of exceeding average yields in percentage terms those traditionally lower yielding areas have probably performed the best, there were a lot of tonnes grown in those areas this year."

He said the high yields meant protein in wheat was not high.

"It's only been a good honest season for protein, a real ASW quality type year but the yields have more than made up for it, now we are just busily watching the market and hoping to see Western Australian prices catching up with those seen in other parts of the world."