Crop are revised upwards for the west

The winter crop in Western Australia has been revised up after recent falls. See what it means for wheat and canola.

Crop estimates for Western Australia have been revised upwards in the past month following some much-needed rain.

Western Australian farmers battled dry conditions, and some growers even left canola out of the rotation, citing a lack of soil moisture.

In the latest Grain Industry Association of Western Australia report, overall winter production is estimated at 8,748,000ha compared to 8,468,000ha last month.

The big mover is wheat, which increased from 4,700,000ha in May to 5,000,000ha this month.

However, canola has been revised to 1,660,000ha this month compared to an optimistic 1,700,000ha in May.

Barley had an estimate of 1,470,000ha in May and now that figure is marginally higher at 1,480,000ha.

Canola planting has been revised downwards. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Chad Eva from Three Springs in Western Australia has received 68mm of rain in the past week and said the seasonal break would benefit wheat but might be too late for canola.

“Things are looking a lot better, and the cereals are looking really good,” he said.

Mr Eva said the canola was struggling because it was dry at sowing time.

“We only had 7mm in May, over two rainfall events, and there was 9.5mm in April,” he said.

“Wheat will be cranking along after this latest rainfall event,” he said.

Mr Eva said there was a chance to apply some nitrogen and potash and wait for the next rainfall event which was forecast later this week.

“There is a chance of more rain this weekend,” he said.

Figures from the Bureau of Meteorology show that Mingenew has received 50.4mm of rain, Geraldton Town 46mm, Bunbury 31.4mm, and York 4.8mm in the past week.

Meanwhile, the GIWA report also revised the oat area up from 243,000ha, estimated in May, to 263,000ha.

The overall estimated area of winter crops was revised up because growers had continued to sow even though it was late in the season.

The increased area was mostly attributed to wheat, and the report stated that some of the cereal crops had been resown due to the earlier dry conditions.