GIWA Crop Report: WA harvest haul forecast to hit 23.1Mt after ‘perfect’ September conditions

WA farmers are on track for another mammoth harvest after “perfect” grain fill conditions last month sent tonnage estimates soaring to just shy of last year’s record 24 million tonnes.

Growers are tipped to deliver a whopping 23.14Mt during 2022-23 harvest, according to the Grain Industry of Western Australia’s latest estimates.

Report author Michael Lamond said September had delivered “perfect” conditions for grain fill, with most of the extra yield expected to come from increased grain weight.

“Mild temperatures across the whole State and the absence of any significant frost events have combined to give the crops every chance of achieving above-average yields for all crops in all regions,” he said.

“Wheat crops in the southern regions are not completely out of the frost risk period due to maturing a little later than normal, although with no major frosts forecast for the next week, that frost risk period will nearly be over.”

It is the latest in a string of upward revisions, after generous August rains added bulk to crops and freshened drying crops in the north, and a notable lack of waterlogging in the Albany Port Zone compared to last growing season.

The huge haul is forecast to be made up of 12.05Mt of wheat, 6.05Mt of barley, 3.81Mt of canola, 565,000t of oats, 600,000t of lupins and 72,000t of pulses.