Lentil plantings in Victoria surge amid tough seasonal conditions

Lentil plantings in Victoria are tipped to reach record levels with growers favouring the resilient crop backed by strong prices. See the details.

Lentil plantings in Victoria are forecast to rise 95 per cent above the 10-year average, cementing their role as a key crop despite challenging times.

Farmers have been choosing lentils over other rotational crops, such as canola, due to the market price, which is currently at $900 a hectare, and its ability to thrive in key cropping districts of Victoria.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics crop report, released this week, forecasts a planting area of 530,000ha of lentils in Victoria with estimated yields forecast at 1.42 tonnes a hectare.

In addition, national lentil production is tipped to increase by 1.5 million tonnes, 71 per cent above the 10-year average.

According to ABARES, the overall area planted to lentils nationally was forecast to increase further in 2025-26 to a record 1.1 million hectares, reflecting high grower returns and the ability for lentil crops to perform in dry conditions.

Rupanyup farmer Ash Teasdale said his family started growing lentils in the early 1990s, and since then, they had become a mainstay in the rotation.

“In some ways, they are our main crop at the moment and have been for a while,” he said.

Lentils make up about 30 per cent of the winter cropping program and are attractive because of the prices on offer.

“Generally, prices are good, and in a good year, they can be a lucrative crop.”

Mr Teasdale said it was not surprising lentil planting in Victoria had increased.

For Ryan Milgate at Minyip, lentils make up 40 per cent of the winter cropping rotation.

“They have become a real mainstay in the Wimmera, and they are becoming a strong crop in the Mallee as well,” he said.

He said prices for lentils were solid with $50 a tonne swings between $850 and $900 a tonne.

“From a profitability perspective they are constantly on the top.”

Chris Drum of Banyena says lentils are a profitable crop. Picture: Zoe Phillips

At Banyena, Chris Drum said he had been growing lentils for years, and if “everything goes right”, they were a profitable crop.

Mr Drum said he wasn’t surprised that the planting area had increased given last year’s prices in the vicinity of $900 a tonne.

The lentils on his property were at the 70 per cent emergence stage and he was hoping for rain this weekend to further boost progress.