After years of drought, the dramatic change in weather brought on by the current La Nina weather event has possibly delivered the best harvest farmers have ever seen.
Tungamah farmer Josh Buerckner said 2020 was the best harvest local farmers had seen but 2021 is looking to beat that.
“It is shaping up as one of the best seasons I have seen, we just need to rain to stay away for another month so we can get the harvest in the bin,” Mr Buerckner said.
“We were on the tail end of the storm (on December 19) and got between 15 and 30mm.
“Hopefully no damage to the cereals we have left to harvest but we will find out over the coming few days. We are around 70% complete and will be hopefully completed prior to the new year.
“2020 was probably the best season we have had locally with high yields, good quality and good prices.
“2021 could be better, yields are looking promising and prices are higher than last year. The only question mark is the weather, it has been a later than normal start to harvest due to cool and wet spring conditions and with bulky crops harvest is behind schedule.
“We are looking for some warmer weather now to enable us to get some hectares done.
“The cool wet spring has been beneficial for the crops enabling them to reach their potential.
“The main concern now is the forecast of a wetter than average summer and how this might impact on grain quality if the rain comes at the wrong time.”
Throughout this year and leading into the harvest there have been some concerns in the farming community after the Bureau of Meteorology forecasted a late La Nina event to form.
The BOM raised its La Nina tracker status to ‘alert’, meaning there is around a 70 per cent chance of the event will occur, correlated with above average rainfall in much of Australia.
“We had some good opening rains in late March but then didn’t get anything until late May which is the end of our seeding window,” Mr Buerckner said.
“Some crops had patchy germination and were behind where they normally would be. Winter was quite wet with low lying paddocks experiencing water logging, however spring was just about perfect and the crops recovered and finished off nicely.
“Canola harvest is close to completion with some record yields locally. Growers are now moving on to Barley and Wheat with yields looking promising as well.
“Prices are strong due to some dry conditions in other parts of the world. Canola, Wheat and Barley prices are all in the top 10% historically.”
As well as a La Nina event, farming communities locally and through much of New South Wales were hit with a mice plague earlier in the year.
“We do not have too many pest control or mice issues at present; there are pockets of mice activity but they are very localized,” Mr Buerckner said.
“We are expecting mouse numbers to increase as we head into next Autumn but they aren’t a big problem at the moment.
When the Yarrawonga Chronicle caught up with Mulwala farmer Peter Thomas on Monday, December 20 - after his property received 34mm of rain the previous day - he was lucky with the progress of his cropping.
“We’re one of the fortunate ones with 80 hectares to go – we’ve got done 222 hectares of wheat and about the same with canola. We’re three days off finishing, probably Christmas eve.
“Last year was just a year we’ve never seen before. We’re about half a tonne behind it per hectare. It’s a lot better than perhaps first thought. I have heard such exceptional yields.”
The third-generation farmer praised Chapman Grains carting the cropped produce to GrainCorp, with good turn-round of cartage and is certainly happy with the quality from his crops.
All the Thomas family members have been busy, especially the “fourth-generation” farmer daughters Brittany, Felicity and Tiffany. “One day the girls stripped 200 tonne,” Thomas senior said.
“Yes, while dad was watching the Test Cricket!” added his daughters.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences expects 58.4 million tonnes will be harvested for the 2021-22 season, driven by record production in Western Australia and the second largest crop expected in New South Wales.
Riverine Plains CEO Catherine Marriott said on figures this year is looking great with price at an all-time high.
“Never count your chickens before they hatch. It is looking like it is going to be the highest yield on record,” Ms Marriott said.
“On figures, last year was the best but this year is looking better.
“In canola, there is over four tonne in patches.
“Core inputs have more than doubled and farmers have reserves for cash.
“Prices at the moment are extraordinary but farmers have for a few weeks/ months been not wanting anymore rain.”
Although many reports are displaying the great numbers coming out of this years harvest, it is not the same for everyone.
“There is a lot of variability, it is ok for some farmers but disastrous for others,” Ms Marriott said.
“Farmers are a resilient bunch but that does not mean they are not having challenges.”
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