It's full steam ahead in paddocks around the region, with the winter crop harvest well underway to, unfortunately, mixed results.
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Many farmers are reporting poor quality from their wheat in particular, although pleasingly yield remains high and for many, canola yield and quality will be particularly please.
Tichborne farmer Neil Kingham said the recent rain and flooding events came at the worst possible time, and have certainly affected the winter cropping harvest.
"Our canola was quite water damaged during winter, but still managed to yield 2.4 tonne per hectare, with good oil," he said earlier this week.
"I'm pretty sure canola that wasn't waterlogged was even better.
"I have heard of yields up to 3.2t/ha.
"But overall, we have had good yield with average protein. All weather damaged though," said Neil.
Numbers from the GrainCorp network after the latest numbers released on December 13 indicated the company recorded the biggest week of receivals of the season so far, resulting in the network surpassing eight million tonnes of receivals in total.
Northern and southern NSW regions continuing to pick up the pace after delayed receival activity, particularly around the Dubbo region in the north and the Wyalong and Griffith clusters in the south.
A GrainCorp representative indicated the Parkes cluster (which includes Caragabal, Parkes, Peak Hill, Red Bend and Trundle) has taken almost 140,000 tonnes by December 8, but that number has now exploded to270,000 tones by December 16 - a strong result.
It's clear, despite mixed results in the Parkes and Forbes regions, that there is plenty to be positive about when it comes to the future, and forecast, for agriculture in NSW.
Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall released the 2021 NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Performance Data and Insights (PDI) report in late November, which showed agriculture increased its Gross Value of Production (GVP) from $15.7 billion in just 12 months.
"Our farmers overcame every challenge thrown their way to smash the record books and grow agriculture by $5.2 billion to a $20.9 billion industry," Mr Marshall said.
"Underpinned by a record winter crop, and bolstered by both strong commodity prices and primary producers committed to delivering safe and high-quality produce, this is an outstanding recognition of the capabilities our industry can achieve.
"Wheat headlines this year's bumper harvest and is the star of this more than $5 billion increase in primary industries GVP.
"The crop's value produced actually rose 541 per cent on the year before to $4 billion," said Mr Marshall.
This outstanding result was underpinned by a record winter crop across all state jurisdictions and an industry consistently capable of delivering safe, reputable and high-quality produce that is in demand in our local and global markets.
Ultimately this resulted in an increase in GVP by 41 per cent on 2018-19 levels, which not only delivered upon, but exceeded the NSW DPI's strategic plan outcome of 29 per cent growth in primary industries two years ahead of schedule.
The preliminary forecast for 2021-22 is for NSW GVP to reach $18.5 billion, or approximately 25 per cent of the national GVP forecast.
If achieved, this would indicate NSW's contribution to delivering a national $100 billion primary industry sector by 2030 is on the right trajectory, setting a solid platform to build upon for the remaining target timeline.
Mr Marshall was keen to point out, though, that after the 'drought and flooding rains' that poet Dorothea Mackellar famously wrote were typical for Australia, Central West farmers are still recovering.
"Primary producers are still recovering from drought by rebuilding herds from historic lows, but international demand remained high and is only expected to increase," he said.
"While this has been a year to remember for agriculture, we realise it's been a devastating time for our Central West farmers.
"It's still too early to see the full extent of flood damage, but we'll be with them through the aftermath," said Mr Marshall.
Mr Marshall said that in fantastic news though, the agricultural industry had exceeded NSW DPI's long-term strategic target two years ahead of schedule.
"COVID-19 and labour shortages, bushfires, drought, mice, floods and trade tensions all presented challenges, but the ag industry still exceeded its goal," he said.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) also recently released their latest results and forecasts for the months ahead.
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It emphasized a lot of positives to take out of the winter cropping season, which has fallen just short of the record results, that were set at last season's bumper harvest.
The report said total winter crop production in NSW is forecast to fall by 6 per cent in 2021-21 to 17.8 million tonnes - 72 per cent above the 10-year average to 2021-21 and the second highest on record.
Significantly above average winter crop yields are expected, with excellent seasonal conditions and above average rainfall falling in almost all the cropping regions.
Unfortunately though, as the report highlighted, late November rainfall has been untimely and has resulted in harvest delays which will result in quality downgrades and damage to crops that were ready for harvest - as Neil Kingham flagged.
The summer crop outlook is still favourable, although record high November rainfall has likely damaged some early sown crops and may limit the ability to complete intended planting programs if it remains too wet to access paddocks, while the delay in harvesting winter crops may also limit the area available to plant summer crops, according to the report.
The ABARES climate forecast reported the oncoming La Nina weather pattern will continue to see above average rainfall, with most climate models suggest this La Nia will be short-lived, persisting until late summer or early autumn 2022.
The report also highlighted the fact that spring temperatures were very mild also supported above average yield prospects in most eastern Australian growing regions,which is likely to have boosted oil content in canola crops while reducing protein levels in many wheat crops.
With generally average upper layer soil moisture and well above average levels of root zone soil moisture, the favourable rainfall outlook for the remainder of the growing season will ensure that the current above average yield potential is realised for summer crop production during 2021-22.
Fortunately for farmers in our region, the current temperature outlook for summer will continue to benefit plant growth, particularly benefiting later sown crops.
Having said that, we all know that no farmer can count their chickens before they hatch (or their money until the grain is sold!) - so all fingers are crossed that the positive forecast for the future of agriculture is proven right in the months and years to come.
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