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Cropping

John Ferrier harvesting wheat, with his family: son David and daughter in law De, Jil Jil, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Farmer’s crop yields hit decile 7 on decile 1 rain

Despite facing one of the driest growing seasons on record, a Victorian farmer has achieved crop yields that contradict all early expectations.

CROPS: Trent Carter at Marnoo Barley crop Pictured: Trent Carter in his barley crop at Marnoo PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Harvest is two-thirds complete

Australia’s winter crop harvest reaches 65.4 per cent completion as grain handlers smash daily receival records, with CBH breaking its network record twice in two days.

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Andrew Russell at his farm, canola crop, Lilliput, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Why bumper crops may not mean a bumper payday

Australian grain farmers have recorded contrasting fortunes in 2025, with northern growers celebrating bumper harvests while southern producers battled challenging seasonal conditions.

CROPS: Stuart Feldtmann at Dookie Harvesting canola near Dookie College Pictured: Stuart Feldtmann harvesting his canola. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘Best gross margin’: Canola the surprise crop winner

Canola has emerged as this season’s standout cash crop with prices hitting $800 a tonne and yields exceeding expectations despite challenging growing conditions.

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CROPS: Demeo Family Harvest Tim Demeo and family finishing wheat harvest on their cropping property north of Raywood. Jack harvesting, and with last remaining crop. PICTURED: Drone wheat harvest. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

The potential $1bn problem: Farmers unaware of huge levy cash pile

Research reserves have exploded from $350 million to $730 million as grain producers question whether their levy system could soon breach the $1 billion mark.

Third-generation farmer Mark Merrett runs a 3080 hectare sheep and cropping operation with his wife Chelsey and parents Ewan and Sharon. at Kaniva. Mark and Chelsey have two children Alexandra, 5, and Jeddy, 3. Mark has a YouTube channel, Merrett Contracting.

Farmer reaps YouTube success

Meet the Kaniva farmer whose defiance of career advice led to YouTube stardom.

CROPS: Stuart Feldtmann at Dookie Harvesting canola near Dookie College Pictured: Stuart Feldtmann harvesting his canola. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘Better than expected’: Farmer shares on dry year

Early harvest indications show crops have held up better than initially expected after a dry year. But now intermittent rainfall slows harvest.

CROPS: Stuart Feldtmann at Dookie Harvesting canola near Dookie College Pictured: Stuart Feldtmann harvesting his canola. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Australian barley harvest hits record 15.7m tonnes

Australia’s crop sector has reached a forecast value of $53.4 billion for 2025-26 despite global oversupply driving wheat prices down 8 per cent.

Mick and Judy Sheppard, with their grandchildren, Indie, Lydia and Ned.

How one farm turned a 15-year plan into a one-year win

A bold silo investment has revolutionised a Central West NSW farm, with the investment paying for itself in just one harvest season.

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CROPS: Sam Crawford on farm at Bolinda Pictured: Sam Crawford with her Labrador named Daisy in her wheat crop at Bolinda PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘A month away’: Farmers await crucial harvest window

Crops are still green at Clarkefield but farmers have hopes for a positive harvest despite a dry start to the season.

Neil Fisher with his daughter Rose, 19, 1st year Melbourne Uni student in Ag Science, driving chaser bin, harvesting canola, Browns Plains, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

‘Better than predicted’: Rutherglen farmer shares harvest result

A North East farming family thought their canola would struggle after frost and drought, but yields have surprised them with better-than-predicted results.

MACHINE: Leigh McGennisken near Horsham McGennisken with his new CaseIH Axial Flow combine harvester. PICTURED: Leigh McGennisken with his new CaseIH Axial Flow combine harvester. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘Economies of scale’: Why header sales are on the rise

A surprising surge in million-dollar header sales has emerged amid Australia’s machinery market slump, as farmers chase efficiency gains despite the cost.

CROPS: Sam Crawford on farm at Bolinda Pictured: Generic windrowed canola PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘Anything over that is a bonus’: Farmers eye canola returns

Despite bids reaching $845 a tonne at Port Kembla, canola growers across NSW and Victoria remain anxious about returns after a challenging season.

CROPS: Trent Carter at Marnoo Barley crop Pictured: Trent Carter in his barley crop at Marnoo PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘Could have gone down the drain’: Farmer’s crop hope

Despite sub-zero temperatures and untimely rains hammering his crops, Marnoo’s Trent Carter expects his barley to deliver extraordinary six-tonne yields.

A farmer operates a combine harvester as he unloads wheat into a grain cart during a harvest at a farm near Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Media reportsÃÂ suggesting China could soon target imports of Australian wheat, after already turning its attention to barley,ÃÂ wine, cotton and beef, have rattled the market. Photographer: David Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Global wheat glut squeezes Australian farm profits

Record wheat production across major exporters has pushed global stocks past one billion tonnes, leaving Australian farmers wrestling with historically flat prices.

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NEWS: Lentil Harvest at Marnoo John Newall's grandaughter Alexa Cameron, 17, is harvesting his lentils. PICTURED: Alexa Cameron and lentils. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Lentil prices are up – but it’s an ‘artificial’ boom

Victorian lentil prices have hit $635 a tonne but farmers are refusing to sell, creating artificial market signals as the harvest season unfolds.

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Western Australian farmer Regan Ashley. Picture: Supplied

Innovation grows WA farm from 2500ha to 7000ha in five years

Western Australian cropping farmer Regan Ashley has transformed his family’s enterprise by incorporating artificial intelligence into everyday farming decisions.

The Country Fire Service firefighters are working to extinguish a hay stack fire near Tantanoola in the Lower South East. Picture: CFS

Haystack fire risk: What farmers need to know

Farmers face heightened risk of devastating haystack fires as drought-stressed crops with high sugar content are cut for hay across southern Australia.

CROPS: Blair Richards and his canola at Boort Blair is windrowing canola. Canola Harvest. Harvesting Pictured: Blair Richards at Boort PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Harvest looms for canola crops in the Loddon

Victorian farmers are racing against November rain to windrow their canola crops, as prices sit at $810 a tonne.

UpdatedCropping

CROPS: Dan Hill at Colbinabbin The Hill's canola crop and wheat crops on farm at Colbinabbin Pictured: Generic silos

Lentil prices hit $640 a tonne amid tariff fears

Rain has stalled southern harvests while lentil prices defy broader market weakness, climbing to their strongest level this season.

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UpdatedCropping

CROPS: Stuart Feldtmann at Dookie Harvesting canola near Dookie College Pictured: Stuart Feldtmann harvesting his canola. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Harvest update: 30 per cent of winter crop now delivered

Australia’s winter-crop harvest has reached 19.39m tonnes as growers deliver strong early-season progress across all states despite weather interruptions.

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Grain Flow. Birchip

Landmark report identifies Australia’s priority grain freight routes

Bridge weight restrictions and rail crossings are two barriers inhibiting productivity on key grain freight routes in Victoria, a new report reveals.

**WARNING: EMBARGOED**DT ONLY DO NOT USE** Federal budget case study Farmer who is going well post-drought. The Reardon family on their property

Grain harvest powers ahead as Victorian farmers wait

Eleven per cent of Australia’s winter crop is already harvested as farmers race toward a predicted 62.8-million-tonne haul despite challenging conditions in southern regions.

CROPS: David Cook cropping farmer David Cook cropping farmer from Pine Lodge Pictured: David Cook with his canola crop Generic canola crop PHOTOGRAPHER: ZOE PHILLIPS

Pakistan open to Aussie GM canola

Australia’s half-billion-dollar canola trade with Pakistan has expanded to include genetically modified crops.

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CROPS: David Cook cropping farmer David Cook cropping farmer from Pine Lodge Pictured: David Cook with his canola crop Generic canola crop PHOTOGRAPHER: ZOE PHILLIPS

‘We are seeing a lot of small grain’

Despite canola hitting $805 a tonne, drought-affected farmers face an anxious wait to see if their struggling crops will deliver enough grain to turn a profit.

Harvest - Simon Wall at Pine Lodge Simon Wall is a livestock and cropping farmer who will still be harvesting wheat. He thinks he will be finished on Monday afternoon. His property has missed most of the wet weather and storms, so the wheat is performing well and no quality downgrades. PICTURED: Generic harvest. Header and chaser bin. Wheat harvest. Wheat crop. Harvesting wheat. Harvesting. Stock Photo. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Grower profits shrinking despite wheat price lift

Cropping farmers say the numbers still don’t add up despite a wheat price rise, with some making just $200 profit per hectare.

****CHECK WITH SUNDAY TELE BEFORE USE*** ***FEE WARNING CHECK WITH DT BEFORE USE**** Making hay when the sun shines ... despite the drought taking a vice-like grip on country NSW, James Barlow has been working around the clock harvesting wheat and making more than 1000 large bales of barley straw and 600 large bales of hay. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

‘Rain too late’: 105,000ha of wheat cut for hay

Southeast Australian farmers have cut more than 100,000 hectares of wheat for hay as failed spring rains force dramatic changes to harvest plans.

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Robert Spurway, the CEO of Graincorp

‘Golden opportunity’: How grain growers can cash in on renewable fuels

GrainCorp boss Robert Spurway says the agricultural giant stands ready to seize a “tremendous opportunity” as government commits $1.1bn to develop domestic renewable fuels.

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**WARNING - SPEAK TO NICOLA AMOROS ON THE DT PICTURE DESK BEFORE PUBLISHING** DAILY TELEGRAPH AUGUST 8, 2025. Alan Brown, cattle farmer from Borambola, ahead of The Daily Telegraph 2025 Bush Summit in Wagga Wagga. Picture: Jonathan Ng

‘It wasn’t a killing frost’: Farmers assess crop damage

After weekend rain, frost and separate hailstorms have left Victorian and Southern NSW crops with patchy damage.

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Michael Thompson and his sons, Hayden, 11, and Jordan, 9, getting ready for harvest on their Minlaton, South Australia, property.

Young South Australian farmers expand land six-fold

South Australian farmers Michael and Rebecca Thompson have transformed their 760ha family farm into a 5200ha grain powerhouse. See how they did it.

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Rick Plant, with his lentils, Manangatang, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Lentil prices lift but remain well below last year’s highs

Lentil prices have edged up slightly to $625 a tonne, giving Victorian growers some relief, but values remain far below last year’s highs.

CROPS: David Cook cropping farmer David Cook cropping farmer from Pine Lodge Pictured: David Cook with his wheat crop PHOTOGRAPHER: ZOE PHILLIPS

Rain boosts grain fill at Pine Lodge

Pine Lodge crops bounce after Sunday’s 22mm of rain. See how the season is shaping up.

CROPS: Dan Hill at Colbinabbin The Hill's canola crop and wheat crops on farm at Colbinabbin Pictured: Generic silos

Farmers store more grain on farm due to dwindling prices

Farmers are preparing to store more grain on-farm this harvest due to flat commodity prices but canola will be sold to provide cash flow.

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CROPS: Luke Flemingham at Invergordon Cropping farmer Luke Flemingham grows horse hay Pictured: Luke Flemingham in his oat crop with his border collie named Harley PHOTOGRAPHER: ZOE PHILLIPS

Invergordon farmer weighs up whether or not to cut oats for hay

With rainfall well below average, farmers are deciding whether or not to cut crops for hay. This is how one Goulburn Valley farmer is making assessments.

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