Western Australia’s grain industry is looking to break its harvest record by two million tonnes following favorable seasonal conditions and a shift away from livestock farming.
The Grain Industry Association of Washington (GIWA) is expected to release its final report next month, and author Michael Lamond said the figure is expected to exceed 27 million tonnes.
Michael Lamond said growers had produced an exceptional amount of grain, far exceeding initial expectations. (Supplied)
“Right now, the harvest is going pretty well in Western Australia and the dust is settling,” Mr Lamond said.
“Grains will still come in little by little, but the amount is estimated to be about 27.2 million tons.
”This is about 2 million tonnes more than the previous record set in 2022.”
The authors said the results were exceptional, noting that they were not what many farmers had expected at the beginning of the grain growing season.
Michael Lamond says some farmers are “in desperate need” of rain. (ABC Rural: Joe Prendergast)
“It’s been a very slow start further north, particularly in the Geraldton area, and it hasn’t been a particularly good start,” Mr Lamond said.
“The central area is probably not in record territory, but there are areas that are not particularly good every year.”
However, Lamond noted that more crops were sown this season, especially in areas with above-average rainfall, which contributed to the overall yield increase compared to 2022.
“In 2022, the cultivated area in the state was approximately 8.96 million hectares, which will increase to approximately 9.44 million hectares in 2025.”
“The downtown area is probably not in record territory,” Michael Lamond said. (By: Stevi Filipowski, The Poppy Files)
reap what you sow
Lake Grace farmer Lois Taylor has worked in the Great Southern region for 37 years and said this was the second-highest production year on record.
“Barley yields in the Lake Grace region this year were huge. We now refer to this region as the Barley Belt,” Taylor said.
“There are a number of factors that contributed to a great year: sheep coming out of our system, more hectares coming in, improved breeds and not having a lot of frost around us.”
Lois Taylor described this year as “amazing.” (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
Taylor believed the entire state would benefit from the huge harvest.
“It’s going to be about $10 billion plus going back into Western Australia’s economy.”
he said.
Mr Taylor said that despite the unusual season, global markets were “flooded” with grain, putting downward pressure on prices.
Royce Taylor said a global wheat glut could put downward pressure on prices. (ABC Midwest: Joanna Prendergast)
Morelin grower Kathy Cook said some areas had missed out on a good harvest.
“There are areas we’ve missed out on, like Goodland, which runs north of Cullany to east of Merredin,” Ms Cooke said.
”That’s a minority, but you still have to keep them in mind because it’s always tough when everyone else has a great season and you don’t.”
All deliveries are pre-packaged
A record 4.05 million tonnes were received by major grain storage and handling company CBH Group in the Port of Esperance area in the south-east of the state.
Zone general manager Paul Shannon said this was not surprising, as it far exceeded the previous record of 3.7 million tonnes in mid-December.
“We had always planned the harvest around 4 million tonnes,” he said.
Mr Shannon said storing grain in bags on-farm, the use of trains to empty the Grass Patch site and heavy shipments during the season all helped produce record yields.
A CBH train runs through the Port of Albany on the Great Southern. (ABC Great Southern: Rosemary Murphy)
Port of Albany general zone manager Will Pearce said the district received 5.35 million tons, 700,000 tons more than the previous zone record.
“We harvested over 150,000 tonnes each day. This is a huge effort by our growers, contractors and staff,” Mr Pearce said.
The final harvest amount will be announced on February 13th. (Supplied)
Similar sentiments are shared in the Kwinana South Zone, where general manager Irving Carey said removals have already begun.
“We had 4.6 million people. The quality was great again this year,” Carey said.