BIN BURSTER: WA’s harvest tipped to reach whopping 26.14 million tonnes with farmers in the ‘final throes’

WA’s incredible grain farmers are in the “final throes” of harvesting a bin-bursting 26.14 million tonne crop, smashing last year’s 24.3Mt record and thumbing their nose to the high input costs that have taken the some of the shine off the bumper yields. The back-to-back record harvests have left the State’s nearly 3000-plus grain farmers feeling exhausted but proud, with many in the industry still celebrating last year’s record — which marked the fist time more than 20Mt had been harvested in WA. The once-unimaginable 26.14Mt total was unveiled in the Grains Industry Association of WA’s most recent crop report on Friday, January 13, with the figure 1.4Mt up on the December forecast of 24.3Mt. By Monday night, WA’s main grain handler CBH Group had received more than 22.16Mt of grain across its sprawling network of upcountry receival sites after this month smashing its 21Mt receival record set last harvest. CBH’s delivery totals have been strong across its five port and area zones, with 6.19Mt delivered by farmers in Kwinana South, 4.33Mt in Kwinana North, 4.39Mt in Albany, 4.01Mt in Geraldton and 3.23Mt in Esperance. In a normal year, between 1Mt and 2Mt of grain is delivered outside the CBH network to grain handling competitor Bunge, other grain value-adding businesses including mills, or retained on-farm. But with more grain to go around, that figure this year is expected to be as high as 3Mt. GIWA crop report author Michael Lamond said farmers were in the “final throes” of harvesting the second bumper crop but there was still a “long way to go” to move grain on farm to CBH bins — particularly in the State’s south. Issues with moisture, sprouting, storage space and trucking capacity have resulted in about 20 per cent of harvested grain in the Esperance and Albany port zones remaining on-farm and still needing to be emptied out of harvest bags or temporary storage for drying, cleaning and delivery to grain receival sites. This will take time, and the final tonnage will not be known until well into February. “The increase in total tonnes produced . . . has been fuelled by a repeat of good growing conditions, a large area of crop planted and a mild finish over the whole of the grain-growing regions, without the frost and waterlogging that impacted several regions last season,” Mr Lamond said. While the harvest is not over yet, Mr Lamond said there had been a number of notable highlights, including wheat exceeding the 10-year average of 9.8mt for the fifth time since 2012, canola production exceeding 4mt for the first time, and never seen before lupin yields of 4t/ha. “There were a few negatives that typically come with mild wet growing conditions and a nice finish, such as weed blow-outs, significant barley leaf diseases impacting on yields, and a significant jump in snail numbers in the south,” he said. Alex Jones finished harvest at his Gairdner property between Christmas and New Years, which was only slightly later than normal due to the bumper yields and soggy paddocks. More than 230mm fell at the Jones’ family farm during harvest, meaning some of the Jones’ wheat from their 1850ha cropping program was downgraded on delivery to CBH Group. “Yield were above average for the season and we were pleased with that,” Mr Jones said. “We had quite a bit of downgrading in our wheat because of the wet weather, but that was to be expected. “We are used to having moisture problems on the south coast, but it was exacerbated this year. “Thankfully the yields were quiet good across the board.” Northam farmer Chris Antonio said it had been a big and late harvest for farmers in his area, saying he felt grateful to be harvesting crops with decent protein levels in a year when the precious attribute had been somewhat scarce. “It has been really positive . . . anecdotally, there is not much protein going around,” he said. “We started harvesting the first week of November. And there were no major delays or no significant weather patterns — it has just been a big harvest.” Australian grain farmers are expected to predict a record 42Mt of wheat this year due mainly to the bumper harvest in WA but also in part thanks to farmers in New South Wales. Growers there are on track to harvest a big total despite widespread floods and quality downgrades that mean some farmers have harvested very little, while others had big yields. It’s the third year of above-average grain production and grain prices nationwide, but farmers are concerned about the prices for critical inputs including chemical and fertiliser. Mr Antonio shared a common thought among farmers that while it had been a bountiful year in terms of yields, it had not necessarily been the most profitable year. “It’s going to be interesting (this year), because — just generally speaking, not ours — just talking to agronomists and farm consultants, people have really got to do their figures for next year with input costs so high,” he said. “You don’t want to put it on a wing and a prayer. You’ve got to make sure you’re going to make a return, a gross margin, on next year’s crops. “We’re normally alright here (in the Northam area), but you’ve still got to do your sums.” Bolgart farmer Julian McGill was able to capitalise on high prices in July by forward-price about 58 per cent of his wheat, 80 per cent and 60 per cent of his barley, abating some concerns about rising input costs. “That high pricing has taken some of the pain away from the high input costs,” he said. “The yields have been through the roof, but the input costs are a worry. “It was about 25 per cent more than we have ever done before . . . I haven’t ever seen prices like that.” Mr McGill said he, his wife, Dale, and their son Tobe, had early-ordered nitrogen and the majority of their compound fertiliser requirements to get ahead. “The hard part is, you have a bad season next year and you drop a tonne of yield off, it will hurt the back pocket of a lot of growers in WA,” he said. “But it is swings and roundabouts, you will almost never have a high yielding and high pricing year without something shanghaiing it.” For Wagin farmer Chris Piesse, the end of harvest has signalled the time to get some jobs done around the farm and move into the next phase of the year. The Wagin Woolorama wool steward has been busy shearing lambs and moving sheep on to stubble before taking some time for a well-earned break before preparations for this year’s event ramp-up. “January is the best time of year to keep things to a minimum,” he joked. CBH has broken several harvest records since grain deliveries started rolling in last September, with a record 2.18Mt of grain shipped from its four ports in December. It also smashed its rail record for the sixth month in a row in December, moving a whopping one million tonnes of rail to port from its upcountry receival sites. In addition to logistics records, more than 50 individual grain bins have broken daily receival records and more than 30 sites have received their most total tonnages in history during harvest. CBH and GIWA will reveal the final harvest total in February, before planting predictions for the 2023 crop are released by GIWA in april.