00:00What a difference rain can make.
00:06Last month Simon Thomas was kicking up dust on his farm at Pingrub, four hours east of
00:12Perth.
00:13This is drier than average, but given that we've had a little bit of rain, it's better
00:18than it has been.
00:19During WA's wettest months, the winter rainfall has flipped the normal patterns, with the
00:25northern grain belt receiving record rains, while the southern regions have experienced
00:30falls well below average.
00:32Yeah, well winter's a good time to have your dams filling up or getting full, and we haven't
00:38had any run-offs of significance.
00:42Now after a series of late winter weather systems, optimism is gradually replacing concern.
00:49Things are starting to look, brighten up, the sheep feed, the crops, everything's responding
00:54well to the moisture.
00:56The crops definitely struggled during the dry June period.
01:01We're still going to need an extremely kind spring, but I guess we're back in the game
01:06I suppose.
01:07A sentiment backed by new data showing WA's harvest outlook has lifted.
01:13From a situation five or six weeks ago, it wasn't too good at all.
01:17In fact we were looking at total tonnage for the state to be well down.
01:21It's now up around somewhere between 17 and 18 million tonnes of grain, of all grain,
01:27West Australia.
01:28To reach the potential of a 17 to 18 million tonne crop by harvest, growers are hoping
01:35that rain events like this weekend will continue to arrive over the next two months.
01:42You can only hope.
01:44All eyes on the radar, and the crucial weeks to come.
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