RELATED:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
LAWLOIT farmer John Bennett has labelled 2016 a bumper year.
Mr Bennett has been harvesting canola, wheat, beans and lentils.
“I’m calling it – this will be the best year for wheat averages we’ve ever had and it was the best year for canola,” he said.
“Lentils and beans weren’t as good, but they are still up there.”
Rupanyup farmer Peter Teasdale said his lentils were some of the best averages he had seen.
“The lentils are looking really good,” he said.
“We’ve also stripped barley, which was the worst of what we had, and we got about 5.5 tonnes a hectare.
“We are about to move on to chickpeas because the prices are pretty good.”
Mr Teasdale said yield-wise this season was as good as any other.
“The prices of cereals have been disappointing though,” he said.
“We haven’t stripped any wheat yet because of that reason – we will probably get to it in the next week or 10 days, but there is more value in chickpeas so we are doing that instead.”
Warracknabeal farmer and Victorian Farmers Federation grains group vice-president Ross Johns said volume was the standout of this season.
“We are still progressing and yields are pretty strong, but quality is variable,” he said.
“We’ve been wanting a big harvest for a while and we finally got it.”
Mr Johns said wheat and barley quality was down on what he anticipated.
“But beans and other crops were quite good,” he said.
“The prices have been disappointing, especially with such a large volume of grain this year.
“It feels like there was a lost opportunity to sell this huge volume at a high price.”
Longerenong farmer Robyn Guilline said she was pleasantly surprised with the yields this season.
“They have exceeded expectations – it’s just unfortunate prices didn’t,” she said.
“If we have another two and a half weeks of sunshine, we should be finished, or pretty close.
“Hopefully we get a good run this week.”
Natimuk farmer Michael Sudholz said yields and quality were surprisingly good.
“We’re getting really good results that we haven’t had for a lot of years,” he said.
“There is a fair bit of grain in the shed, which is a good problem to have.”
St Helen’s Plains farmer Keith Fischer said yields were good, but there had been some quality issues with black tip in barley.
“It doesn't look like we got any hail damage at this stage and I think I’m right for frost too,” he said.