Northern NSW: ‘Phenomenal’ yields despite rain

As harvest winds down in northern NSW, farmers say yields have been remarkable despite recent weather.

Growers in northern NSW are beginning to bring in their final chaser bins this week after one of the longest and most challenging harvests many have faced in years.

Mixed grain grower Andrew McClenaghan from Bellata in northern NSW brought his last bin of chickpeas in on Sunday after a 45-day harvest.
Mr McClenaghan, whose property spans 1500ha, said he started this year’s harvest on October 28, but “rain delays and then more rain delays” stretched the harvest out weeks longer than last year, which lasted just 15 days.

The Bellata grower said this year’s crop had been “fantastic”, and had promised top quality and an excellent yield before heavy rain set in November.

Thankful to be getting another go today. 2nd ugliest sample I’ve had in my hand, 2010 durum was much more colourful. But it is SFW not FED so a win there. Can’t get across the creek so have shifted fields, hope it’s at least similar pic.twitter.com/J4ICKGJKyZ

— Andrew McClenaghan (@AndrewMcClenag1) November 29, 2021

Even after all the rain, the final yield was still the farm’s “best ever” at over six tonnes/ha for wheat, but Mr McClenaghan estimated over half had been downgraded due to rain.

His wheat test weight dropped from about 81 to about 71 due to the rain, he said.
“It was a 10 per cent yield loss effectively.”

The nearest up-to-date rain gauge to Bellata at Narrabri airport recorded falls of 181.6mm for November, 312 per cent of the region’s long term average, and almost 500mm since June, almost double the long-term average of 263mm.

His faba beans also yielded well, at 4.6 tonnes/ha, 1.5 tonnes/ha above average. And his chickpeas managed an “above average” 2.8 tonnes/ha after a mid-flowering frost.

“Overall, the yields have been phenomenal,” he said.

Last Load: Andrew McClenaghan from Bellata in NSW brought in his final load of chickpeas on Sunday after a 45 day harvest. Picture: Supplied

As harvest begins to wind down in northern NSW, growers across the state have delivered about 4.6 million tonnes of grain into the GrainCorp network, roughly 26 per cent of the ABARES estimate of 17.8 million tonnes.

In Victoria, harvest has picked up speed, with about 1.6 million tonnes of grain delivered to the GrainCorp network this week, bringing the total to two million tonnes for the state so far.

South Australian farmers delivered almost 3 million tonnes to the Viterra network this week, bringing the state total to 3.9 million tonnes.

In Queensland, harvest is now more or less complete. Totals have inched up slightly since last week, with about 1.7 million tonnes delivered to the GrainCorp network so far.

Meanwhile in Western Australia growers had another huge week, delivering almost six million tonnes to the CBH network, bringing the state’s total to 15.8 million tonnes, or 75 per cent of the ABARES season forecast.