Another bumper cropping season for W.A. farmers in 2022

[onetrack]

Well, it's a great time to be a farmer in W.A. - the latest October grain production outlook has been released by GIWA, and we're on track to exceed last years record-breaking grain season.

Last cropping season, W.A. produced just over 24M tonnes of grain in total (all grains - wheat, canola, barley, lupins and oats), this was an all-time record for the State, thanks to good Winter rainfall.

Unfortunately, a bad frost event in the N.E. Wheatbelt in September knocked possibly 1.5 - 2 million tonnes off the total, this was a disaster for a lot of farmers in that region.

 

But this season, we've avoided a really bad frost, with only a couple of minor frosts this month, which hasn't impacted greatly on the crop, thanks to nearly all of it being past the flowering stage.

From what I've seen, travelling around the Wheatbelt in recent weeks, the crop potential is even better than what GIWA is predicting - barring any sudden adverse weather events.

 

Co-operative Bulk Handling, our primary grain handler, has jumped on the bandwagon while the going is good, and raised their handling charges by a whopping 25% in one hit, causing a few grumbles amongst farmers.

But the extra money is needed to upgrade rail lines and rolling stock (CBH have their own rolling stock), and increase storage capacity, and port grain terminal throughput capacity.

 

The port terminals are struggling with the increased tonnage of grains meaning they need to load ships faster to get the grain away in time.

I've read that some grain ships were waiting up to 3 weeks to load from Albany, thanks to limits on grain loading throughput there. That's costly, shipping charges are reportedly 3 times higher now than they were, before COVID-19 hit.

 

But one thing's for sure, with the disruptions in Europe there's no problem selling our grain on world markets, and a lot of our grain is highly sought after for its milling and dough qualities.

This is the 3rd season in a row that has produced a bumper crop for W.A., the farmers were getting record prices for wheat and canola last year (close on $500T for wheat and around $900T for canola), largely thanks to major drought in Canada.

But this year, the prices have come back a little, but they're still good, about $450T for wheat and over $600T for canola. The only downsides are high fertiliser costs, high freight costs and a scarcity of new equipment, thanks to COVID-19 disruptions.

I have never seen such high prices paid for good used farm equipment as at present, some items such as good used chaser bins are bringing near-new prices.

 

Weather indications are that the West will have below-average to average rainfall events between now and Christmas, while the East Coast is going to endure more and more rain events.

 

https://www.giwa.org.au/wa-crop-reports/2022-season/giwa-crop-report-october-2022/

 

[willedoo]

There was something about the wheat prices and harvest on the ABC country hour on the wireless a couple of days ago. I wasn't listening very intently, but I thought I heard him say the prices were down because of the amount of stockpile from last year's crop.

[Jerry_Atrick]

That is largeely good news..

 

If you jump to the bottom of this page, Aussie Wheat futures up unitl May delivery seem to be enjoying the best price increases: https://www.barchart.com/futures/quotes/F3Z18/historical-prices?orderBy=contractExpirationDate&orderDir=asc

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Great news onetrack. I have always said that the price was too low and its good to see things improve.

One effect of too-low prices has been the demise of agricultural colleges, and how silly people have assumed food will always be almost free.

 

[facthunter]

There's a lot of dough in growing wheat. SOMETIMES. Farmers are some of the biggest gamblers in the World.. Nev

[old man emu]

It's alright for you Sandgropers, but there's lots of worries over on the east side. Even if the rain backs off, which doesn't seem likely, the ground is so soft that it is going to be hard to get machinery onto the ground to do the harvesting. It is a shame, because the crops look really good.

[onetrack]

Yes, I really feel for the Eastern States farmers, because I'd imagine there's nothing worse than seeing a beaut crop go to rot, thanks to huge volumes of water, at a time of year when you wouldn't expect anything more than a few light showers. The animals would be doing it tough, too, it doesn't take much waterlogging to start things like footrot amongst them.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by onetrack

[red750]

Vision on the news tonight of half a dozen cows on a piece of ground about the size of my loungeroom, the only visible ground above water, and no grass. Also, three horses in horse blankets, knee deep in water.

 

Not only unable to harvest, but roads blocked, disrupting supply chains. Vision of highways with tarmac completely washed away.

[willedoo]

The things you learn. I didn't know the Russians now own Versatile.

[onetrack]

Yes, Rostselmash started purchasing shares in the Canadian manufacturer of Versatile - Buhler Industries - in 2007, and raised their shareholding to 97% of Buhler in 2021.

Buhler still claim they're 100% Canadian, as Versatile tractors are still all built in Canada - but they can't get away from the fact that Rostselmash can still pull the strings.

 

Here's an article from a Canadian ag news site, from earlier this year - after the Ukraine War started, and the Canadians were a little gloomy about what was going to happen.

 

https://www.producer.com/crops/agricultural-steel-afloat-on-the-atlantic/#:~:text=Buhler Industries manufactures the Versatile,to 97 percent last year.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Hmmm.. If Russia is commandeering foreign owned assets in Russia, then.... ????

[onetrack]

It's very much a 2-way street.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Indeed.

[red750]

A photo of what I referred to in an earlier post. Imagine driving through flood waters and striking this.

 

[onetrack]

Yep, that's the exact reason why people are constantly warned not to drive through rushing floodwaters. The muddy water obscures everything. If the water is clear and only flowing slowly or not moving, you can get away with it. 

 

I can remember being caught on a gravel road at Mt Walker (W.A.) in the mid-1970's, the road was put through a big depression, and it filled with water, making a small lake, after an extended period of rain.

The road went under about 750mm of water. I came over a rise in the road, only to find a section about 800M long, just a big stretch of water! I checked it out, and decided to drive through in my HQ Holden sedan.

It was a bit nerve-wracking, the water was more than halfway up my doors, the whole way! But it was clear, still water, and the road surface was flat and level the entire distance. I came out the other side, heaving a sigh of relief!

 

If I'd had to detour around the section, it would've added about an hour to my journey and many tens of kilometres. Not so many years afterwards, the council rebuilt the road, and surveyed a new route, so it followed the top edge of the depression.

[Yenn]

If there had been much cross flow of the water you would have been swept sideways. Once the bodywork gets into the water the pressure will overcome the friction of the tyres. That is why a 4WD is so much better, just because of the increased ground clearance.

[facthunter]

A  lot of cars will actually float for quite a while and you will be carried away with it, slowly sinking and some pressure on the doors. Nev

[Yenn]

While you float away, engine swamped by water you may be safe, but how do you open the doors with all that water pressure on them and when it gets up to the windows, you find that you can't open the doors and you can't open the windows, because the electrics have all died. That is what kills people.

[facthunter]

That is indeed correct with  some/ most of the modern vehicles. Most people have no knowledge of that .  Literally a DEATH TRAP.   Nev

[old man emu]

Drive a VW Beetle. They float.

[Bruce Tuncks]

What you are supposed to do is to send your woman to walk through first. If she disappears, you don't drive  in. I actually have a picture taken on the Stuart Highway where the road disappears, to reappear a few hundred m away, and swmbo wading through.

[Jerry_Atrick]

48 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

If she disappears, you don't drive  in.

Make sure her life insurance is fat and premiums up to date