Grain harvest yields vary widely through Wimmera and Mallee

WHEN a farmer strips a 120ha paddock and only gets a truckload of grain, things can look a little grim.

Grain Harvest

WHEN a Warracknabeal farmer strips a 120ha paddock for a truckload of grain, things can look a little grim.

This is the ugly side of the grain harvest in Victoria but other areas ranged between good and bad.

In the northern Mallee, where the climate is generally drier, grain growers are experi­encing yields of average to a little worse.

In the West Wimmera, harvesting is still a week away but crops are likely to be better than other parts of Victoria.

In the area south and east of Rupanyup, wheat crops look like yielding a healthy three tonnes a hectare.

It’s a mixed bag, according to agronomists who spoke to The Weekly Times this week.

Andrew Golder, of Roberts Smith and Co, at Warracknabeal, said crops in his area and further east to Birchip and Watchem had suffered from no rain since late July.

“It’s cost recovery: trying to get enough off the paddock to not make a loss,” Mr Golder said. “But our blokes are pretty resilient. They’re not making too big of a fuss about it.”

Kent Wooding, manager of Agrivision at Swan Hill, said the northern Mallee was looking “OK”. “There’s some good ­patches and some bad areas as well,” Mr Wooding said. “Most have started harvesting in the past five to seven days.”

Harvest 2014-15