Harvest underway

HIGHER temperatures and drier conditions have contributed to a premature start to the annual grain harvest in the western part of the Young shire in the past week.

Headers began chewing through paddocks in a bid to get the district’s canola and wheat crops off and trucked into the silos at Bribbaree, Weedallion, Tubbul and Maimuru late last week.

Young is following the trend right across the state.

The higher rainfall and lower temperatures, characteristic of the eastern side of Young, means harvest will commence there in the next couple of weeks.

Harvest is expected to continue into mid-December - an early Christmas gift to farmers well used to a festive season spent in paddocks.

District agronomist Paul Parker said the crops had an excellent start to their growing cycle and the drier winter mean they developed a deeper root system.

“This year things are way earlier than I would expect - usually farmers would finish the canola and get into the wheat not before the third week of November,” Mr Parker said.

“Right now most farmers will go for the canola first because it is higher value in terms of price and there is more risk of damage to the crop through storms.”

The below average November rainfall has also contributed to the early harvest.

The November average rainfall sits at around 66.5mm, but so far this month there has been zero precipitation.

Around five to 10mm is expected to fall this weekend.

Mr Parker said the rain forecast for the weekend would not impact much on crops.

“It’s not a major worry, as they are expected to be short showers which tend to dry quickly in these higher temperatures,” he said, “crops are too well advanced for any frost to cause damage except on the eastern side of the shire.”

Long range forecasts indicate moderate falls in early December.

Of greatest interest to Mr Parker are the commercial mustard seed crops throughout the eastern seaboard.

Over 1200 hectares (2500 acres) of mustard has been planted this year in readiness for the opening of the mustard seed crushing and distillation plant which has been set up at Ambos in Young.

The fully operational plant will be producing oil and volatile oil of mustard (VOM) for the Asian market where it is in high demand.

They are anticipating increasing production up to 4000 hectares in 2015.

“Some of the crops have been delivered to Ambos and they have reported back there has been some admixture,” Mr Parker said.

“I can only say that farmers need to be sure the wind settings on the header are set to ensure that minimal rubbish is retained in the sample at the same time that actual loss of seed is minimised. The rubbish is blown out the back of the machine.

“It’ll take some trial and error to get the settings right.”