‘It’s an extremely disappointing season’: Canola crops face low yields

Agronomists warn canola crops in southern NSW and Victoria face low yields for the 2025 season, with dry conditions and no rain expected for at least 10 days.

Agronomists and grain traders warn that low-yielding canola crops are a real risk in southern NSW and Victoria, with no rain expected for at least 10 days.

Finley, NSW agronomist John Lacy said his area had the benefit of irrigation but some canola crops were struggling with farmers facing the prospect of low yields.

He said the dryland crops had suffered from moisture stress and he estimated yields of 1.5 tonnes a hectare and up to 2 tonnes/ha for the slightly better crops.

“It is an extremely disappointing season, and there has just been no finish at all,” he said.

In fact, Mr Lacy warned that even if October rain arrived it could nearly be too late because crops were now past the pod fill stage.

“Most of the crop potential has already been decided,” he said.

Farmers were hoping for October rain to boost canola crops. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Peters Commodities grain trader Peter Gerhardy from Wagga Wagga, NSW, said canola crops were likely to be cut for hay along with cereal crops.

“There is some canola already being cut, and anything that doesn’t have the ability to yield at more than 1.5 tonnes/ha could be cut for hay or silage,” he said.

“There’s no doubt, the acreage and the yield in this area is going to be down to blazes based on timing and moisture loss, and some of the country was even resown due to poor germination,” he said.

Mr Gerhardy said visually the picture was very different to the typical canola crops that would be present at this time of the year.

“You usually see crops well over the height of the fence, and they are in full flower and it looks like you could walk on them ... at the moment they are still green and you can see through them, there isn’t much there,” he said.

“Canola is not going to be around in the volumes like everyone thinks,” he said.

Mr Gerhardy said it was likely there might be a price adjustment domestically at harvest when the true effect of yields was taken into account for southern NSW and Victoria.

And for low yielding crops, with a price range of $730 to $740 a tonne, he said if that didn’t lift it made canola a very expensive crop to grow.