After a disappointing hot, dry end to the season most grain growers are expecting a below-average harvest.
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With the harvest in full swing headers are churning their way through paddocks reaping what farmers had hoped would be a bumper crop after the excellent start they received at sowing time.
However a dry finish to the winter cropping season has resulted in a mixed bag for growers when it comes to quality and yield.
GrainCorp spokesperson Angus Trigg said he expected a lot of the grain to come in quickly.
"It's too early to say how this season compares to other years or specific tonnages. It is perhaps a little later than previous years but we expect it to come in pretty quickly," he said.
"Across our network it is generally expected that this harvest will be below average size due to the persistent dry weather."
GrainCorp has introduced a new wheat classification to accommodate the large amount of grain coming in with high screenings, a result of the hot, dry finish.
Mr Trigg said SHP1 is a new segregation which has been created to allow delivery of grain that is high in protein but also high in screenings.
"This is an issue with some wheat and barley due to the tight finish. Value-wise it is sitting around the same as APW1 or roughly $15 above."
Mr Trigg said other grain prices had generally been firm.
"This is good news for growers and daily prices are available from our website."
Manager of "Dungallon" and surrounding properties, Derek Pink, said their season had been "not too bad''.
The workers on the 4000-hectare property are currently stripping canola.
"Canola, on average, we should get one to two tonnes a hectare," he said.
"Our earlier crops are doing better than the late ones and the red dirt crops are doing even better. So it should average 1.4 tonnes a hectare."
Mr Pink has also sown irrigated wheat this season.
"We're looking at five to six tonnes a hectare for the irrigated wheat and five tonnes for the dryland (wheat)," he said.
The dryland wheat the Pinks manage took out first place in the local ASC Wheat Crop Competition at "Kyree" along with a third in the RAS competition for the canola crop.
Delta Ag agronomist at Trangie Justin Lewis said there had been a mixed bag of results because of the way the season was and the moisture fell in different ways.
Mr Lewis is hoping for a strong finish for the local farmers.
"It should be reasonable considering the tight finish and the hot, dry spring," he said.
Mr Pink was realistic about the harvest.
"You've got to take it as it comes, there's nothing you can do but take the years as they come. It'd be great if you could order water from the sky," he smiled.
We are running a harvest photo competition until December.
Send in your pictures to grace.ryan@fairfaxmedia.com.au to be in the running.
Stay tuned for more details.
