SOUTHERN Riverina farmers are reporting a better than expected harvest despite fears November rains would harm crops.
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Balldale cropper Pat Drum said his barley was slightly underweight but wheat had held up well.
“I had nearly four inches here in early November and, while it didn’t do any good, it didn’t do any harm either,” said Mr Drum, who has about 500 hectares under crop.
“Some of the barley was just a fraction underweight but it hasn’t hurt the wheat, the wheat never struggled at all really during the dry winter, the averages are good, the wheat is going about 20 bags to the acre.”
Harvest was in full swing after a series of setbacks – first a big downpour at the start of November, then fire bans and weather related delays in the past week.
The NSW Rural Fire Service urged farmers to cease harvest during days of extreme fire danger, while many farmers also shut down on Thursday because of high winds.
“It’s been going well, while the weather holds,” Mr Drum said.
“It was overly bad last Friday, then on Wednesday we got stopped and a few stopped yesterday because of the wind. But it hasn’t mattered.”
Mr Drum said while quality was good the main concern for growers was prices.
Wheat prices have eased during November and are now at their lowest levels since late September.
This year’s prices, well under $300 a tonne in NSW and Victoria, are lower than what grain growers have received in six out of the past eight seasons.
Only 2009 and 2011 delivered lower harvest prices in export based port zones.
With drought impacting Victoria, Melbourne-based prices were the strongest in the country this year.
Jason Schilg said he was pleased with harvest on his 1400-hectare Walla property.
“We’ve done all the canola and we’re very happy with how that went,” Mr Schilg said.
“We’re getting the barley off now and should move on to the wheat over the weekend.
“The late rain hasn’t been a problem, a lot of people have been surprised by the quality of the harvest given how the season unfolded.”