Yield hopes for barley despite damage
Barley prices have been lacklustre as frost, lack of in-crop rainfall and hail all take a toll on yields.
The 2024 barley harvest is proving to be a litmus test of what farmers are describing as a mixed bag of seasonal conditions.
Frost, lack of in-crop rainfall and hail have all taken a toll on what could potentially be bountiful barley yields.
Prices have also been lacklustre for barley, with farmers saying they will hedge their bets by storing a portion of the grain on farm and selling directly from the header to spread risk.
Malt barley is making $340 a tonne delivered to port at Melbourne and BAR1 is trading at $337 a tonne, but in southern NSW prices are trending lower with Malt barley at $286 a tonne and BAR1, $269 a tonne.
This compares to 2023, when prices were trading between $340 a tonne to $350 a tonne.
Berriwillock farmer and Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Craig Henderson said 2024 was a good example of how important it was to effectively use stored soil moisture.
He said the barley pricing outcomes wouldn’t be evident until harvest progressed further. However, he believed it would be supply and demand factors rather than political events that dictate values.
“I think people will hedge their bets; some will take the cash flow at harvest and also store some barley on the farm, too,” he said.
“Lentils are at a fair price so people will take that.”
Mr Henderson said quotes for barley in his area was at around $290 a tonne.
“There wasn’t much in the way of forward contracts for barley,” he said.
Rupanyup farmer Ash Teasdale was planning to start harvesting barley this week.
“I’m relatively optimistic about yields … but I’m not sure about quality yet,” he said.
“It is just a matter of getting the header in the paddock to see what we have.”
Frost and storms swept through the area earlier in the season, and the extent of damage was still unknown.
“I’m hoping we see around 3 tonnes/ha,” he said.
The crop received 130mm to 150mm of growing season rainfall.
Tess Healy also farms at Rupanyup and said she hadn’t seen the headers rolling in barley crops yet.
“There is a fair bit of variation from the frost damage,” she said.
Ms Healy said some paddocks would have reduced yields due to the damage.
Diggora farmer Daryl Jensen said barley harvest was about a week away in his area.
I’d like to think the barley crops will yield 3.5 to 5 tonnes/ha,” he said.
Mr Jensen said barley prices were not as good as they could be so farmers were banking on yields.
“Prices can always change,” he said.
Mr Jensen said farmers would possibly take a wait-and-see approach with barley and store some on farm.
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