The biggest harvest in southern NSW in living memory is looking increasingly likely to roll on past Christmas.
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Twelve months ago Riverina croppers were already winding down with the region still battling drought.
Growers estimate they are 60 to 70 per cent into a harvest which is cranking up again after being interrupted by cool and wet conditions in the past week.
GrainCorp nationally has taken 10.3 million tonnes to date with 7.23 million tonnes being handled in NSW alone.
A year ago, 2.13 million tonnes were received at the bulk handler's sites in NSW with the Riverina harvest drawing to an end.
GrainCorp estimates from Boree Creek across the border to Dookie there have been over 800,000 tonnes of grain received with Boree Creek, Oaklands and Tocumwal all taking more than 100,000 tonnes so far.
Tom Dowling, whose family has farms in the Yarrawonga and Urana areas and further north to Condobolin, believes they will be still working on harvest after Christmas.
They have needed an additional 30 per cent staff compared to last year to complete the massive undertaking of stripping canola, barley and wheat.
A Qantas pilot put out of work due to the pandemic is among those joining the harvest team this year.
"It's obviously as a good a year as we've had for a while," Mr Dowling said.
"The canola was definitely the pick of our crops.
"We will still have some barley to do after Christmas the way things are tracking and wet weather holding us up a little bit."
Growers are closely monitoring the progress of the predicted La Nina weather event and hoping its anticipated arrival south can be delayed for a few more weeks.
Balldale's Beau Longmire said unless wet weather intervened his harvest would be completed by Christmas.
"In about 10 days time there won't be a lot left, but everything is weather dependent," he said.
"The last couple of years the season has been done by mid-December at the latest."
He said the huge task this year had been helped by the ability of road trains to operate in the area.
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In July last year, Federation Council gave the green light to heavy vehicles on all roads to allow access for B Doubles up to 25 metres long and AB Triples up to 36.5 metres in length.
"The approval of road trains has been a massive difference," Mr Longmire said.
"The silo queues don't seem to get as bad as they used to.
"It's slowed everyone down."
Pat Day started a family trucking empire at Oaklands in the 1920s with a single truck transporting wheat and fertiliser around the area.
This year a much larger fleet of trucks is working around the clock on the harvest with GrainCorp and GrainFlow both based in the town in addition to the Day family's own receival site.
"It will be the biggest harvest we've ever seen, simply because of the yields and the amount of country under crop," Mr Day said.
"When I was a boy all this country was sheep country.
"Everything is different these days.
"There is a lot more fertiliser being put on crops than there was previously.
"Farming practices have all changed and direct drilling is another big thing.
"A bloke told me once you would only get one good year in seven and this is one of them.
"But the last couple have been real skinners."
Federation mayor Pat Bourke operates a farm supplies business in his hometown of Urana.
He said the change in 12 months was amazing.
"For the last three and a half years we've been in drought," he said.
"People had pretty much exhausted cash reserves and when you are in drought, you can never see the end of it.
"But to turnaround and have the rain fall at the right time for cropping is remarkable.
"We've still had a little bit of rain during harvest, but generally we've had a good run.
"In all ways it has been a dream harvest with some amazing yields right through the area."
Cr Bourke said farmers had been barely covering input costs in recent years.
"When rural areas are down they affect the economies of Albury and Wagga," he said.
"This will be a real pump for them as well."
