Western Australia's harvest to be a record 22.1 million tonnes says GIWA

Australia

Published Dec 22, 2021

Tridge summary

WESTERN Australia's bumper harvest continues to break records and is now estimated to be more than 22.1 million tonnes, worth up to an estimated $9 billion. With records being set for individual paddock averages, crop type averages and regional totals over most parts of WA, there were no surprises when estimates for total production for all grains went up on Friday and about 17 per cent more than the previous record set in 2018.

Original content

Since the start of harvest in the north of the State, yields were mostly coming in at about 10 to 20pc above estimates and, according to the Grain Industry of Western Australia's (GIWA) December Crop Report, it was obvious if that held true for the rest of WA, it would be a record tonnage. As harvest moved south and grain yields continued to exceed estimates, the focus shifted from wondering if WA would hit 20mt, to asking how it was going to deal with so much grain. More area remains to be harvested than is normally the case at this time of the year, with most of the country still to be harvested being in the higher rainfall regions from where the very high yields are coming in. Crop Report author Michael Lamond said grain quality downgrades from weather were isolated to those areas that received several rainfall events at the start of harvest and were not significant in the overall scheme of things. "Low protein from lack of nitrogen has mostly been confined to wet areas where ...

Source: Farmweekly