Harvest 2022: WA harvest kicks off

Early-season harvest has kicked off in Western Australia, with the state expected to deliver a bumper crop.

Early-season harvest has kicked off in Western Australia, with the state expected to deliver a bumper crop.

Grower Chad Eva was one of the first out of the gate last week, harvesting Battalion canola on his property at Three Springs in the northern wheatbelt.

Mr Eva grows wheat, canola and lupins across a 7600ha cropping property he has farmed since 1998. The canola crop he harvested last week was planted in late March, and was desiccated ahead of a harvest machinery demonstration.

Other crops on the property would be ready to harvest in about two weeks time, he said.

Last week’s canola harvest yielded 1.5 tonnes to the hectare, higher than the long-term average for the property of 1.4 tonnes to the hectare, and was the farm’s “worst” performing crop. Other canola varieties were expected to yield up to 2.5 tonnes to the hectare.

“The weather is as good as I’ve seen it coming in to spring. It’s beautiful mild conditions. It’s the best finish we’ve had,” he said.

“The wheat looks really good. That’s the shining light this year. I think it could go better than three tonnes but it is a bit of an unknown because we’ve never had such a mild finish with so much moisture in the soil.”

The farm had 150mm of rain in August and 50mm in September. Warm temperatures are predicted for the region in early October.

Harvest under way in WA ⁦@chad_eva⁩ pic.twitter.com/Ec8bBdSmpT

— Peter Newman (@peterdnewman) September 21, 2022

Grain Producers Australia chairman Barry Large said he expected “a big crop” in WA this year, but rain and waterlogging would bring challenges.

“To say that it is wet is an understatement. It is wet from top to bottom. Harvesting is going to provide a few issues,” Mr Large said.

“For my farming enterprise (in Miling, WA), we are 15 to 20 per cent wetter than last year and we are going to have a few holes in our crop, but the good patches are going to be very, very good.”

While wet areas would likely dry out in time for harvest, the waterlogging was expected to bring down yields, he said.

“I don’t think we are going to get much above average (yields). If you offered me average (2.8 tonnes to the hectare for wheat) right now I’d take it.”

In September ABARES forecast an 11 million-tonne wheat harvest for the state, up from a June harvest projection of 10.2 million tonnes.

Barley harvest was expected to come in at 4.8 million tonnes, up from a 4.3 million tonne estimate in June.

Canola harvest was expected to come in at 3.1 million tonnes, up from a 2.6 million tonne estimate in June.