Wheat down, barley up on yield expectations

WHEAT yields will be about 40,000 tonnes less than predicted in early August, with shortfalls of about 0.3 tonnes per hectare in the 80,000 hectare winter wheat crop, and 0.6 tonnes in the 23,000 hectare spring crop.

But barley yields have marginally exceeded industry expectations for the 103,000 ha winter crop and the 153,000 ha spring crop.

Spring oats growers are delighted with their record yields, averaging 7.1 tonnes per hectare, and winter oats is marginally ahead of expectations, but the total only 19,000 ha.