WA grain harvest set to deliver nearly $10 billion to state economy

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Western Australia's grain growers are on track to deliver one of their best harvests, exceeding expectations after a drier than average winter. Analysts believe the total tonnage will easily end up being the third largest harvest on record, delivering almost ten billion dollars to the state's economy.

Transcript

00:00Timing in life and farming is everything.

00:06Just ask Barry West.

00:09Back in May, the coolant farmer didn't wait for opening rains

00:13and rolled the dice, seeding his crop during one of the driest autumns on record.

00:19Just about everything was sown. This year's been dry.

00:22To be honest, it'd be great to have a rain.

00:25Forecasts for winter rainfall across the grain belt were down,

00:29along with predictions for the 2024 grain harvest.

00:33At the moment, you'd have to say that you'd be very optimistic

00:36if we were likely to achieve more than 15 million tonnes

00:40of total grain production in Western Australia this year.

00:43But roll forward to December, and Santa Claus is set to deliver the state a bumper harvest.

00:50Yeah, everything's going good, yeah. Nah, it's been a good year.

00:54For Peter and Barry West, 44 years of rolling the dice with the weather,

00:59this season has paid off.

01:01I'd say it's going to be one of our best, hopefully.

01:04Yeah, we've yet to finish, but yeah, we're very happy with it.

01:08It's quite unexpected.

01:10We now will easily have the third largest harvest ever

01:14when you consider it was a very low rainfall growing season.

01:17You know, very low for most of the state, except for the north.

01:20Even though it was a late start, 2024 was one of the warmest winter growing seasons ever.

01:27The frosts haven't been too bad, so yeah, the timing of the rain's been good.

01:32We're going to get close to 20 million tonnes for CDH.

01:35Canola and barley exceeded expectations.

01:39The wheat has been exceptionally good as well, and you think,

01:42well, it was flowering right through that September period where there was no rain.

01:46So, I mean, it's just extraordinary, really.

01:48It's an unexpected bonus for farmers and the state.

01:52In net dollars, I mean, it's probably close to 10 billion.

01:56Winners this season are Greeners.

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