Summer crop success

Sorghum crops are showing early signs of success at harvest, with yields as high as 12 tonnes a hectare. See how the crop is shaping up across eastern Australia.

Sorghum crops are showing some early signs of higher-than-anticipated yields with most of the crop due for harvest in the coming weeks.

Harvest is starting to take shape at Collingullie in southern NSW, and farmer Mark Taylor said the yields had been as high as 12 tonnes a hectare.

Mark Taylor of Collingullie in southern NSW pictured with his irrigated sorghum. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

Overall, the crop has averaged 11 to 12t/ha. It was a good result, given that he had initially hoped for around 10t/ha.

The crop of Halifax sorghum is ultimately destined for the stock feed market and was being irrigated using bore water.

Mr Taylor said he mainly grew winter crops, including canola, wheat, and barley, but he grew a summer crop of sorghum for the second time this year.

He planted 140ha of sorghum and plans to finish harvest in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, winter crops are set to be planted at the Collingullie property starting in the first week of April.

George Taylor, 7, of Collingullie in southern NSW pictured with a crop of sorghum in the background. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

At the silo, sorghum prices are holding firm with values trending at around $380 per tonne.

According to the latest Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences crop report, overall sorghum production was anticipated to fall by 24 per cent to 2 million tonnes nationally.

Despite the decline, the yield had been revised upwards by 38 per cent compared to the December 2023 crop report, and overall production is 26 per cent more than the 10-year average.

In Queensland, sorghum production is forecast to fall by 23 per cent from 2023 to 2024 to 1.4 million tonnes, down from record levels in 2022 to 2023.

According to the crop report, the lack of rainfall in the lead-up limited the overall areas being planted, leading to predictions that sorghum in NSW would drop by 25 per cent to 611,000 tonnes in 2023-24.

Many growers who missed the opportunity to plant a winter crop in 2023-24 due to prolonged dryness were likely to have taken advantage of average soil moisture levels during the late spring of 2023 and planted fields that were left to fallow over winter.

Grains and cropping farmer and contract harvester Jason Palmer of Nanneella said there were pockets of sorghum being grown in Victoria.

He said the crop was an important staple feed source for dairy farmers.

“There is an incredible growth industry for silage in general, and we are seeing a few farmers growing sorghum here and there,” he said.