Browse > Home / Farming, Rural / SA prepares to harvest bumper crop

SA prepares to harvest bumper crop

Posted on November 6, 2009, 11:11am

South Australia is on track to reap the second largest crop in state’s history over coming weeks.

The spring Crop and Pasture Report released today by the State Government says crops in all districts responded well to the good spring rains and mild temperatures during September and October.

An estimated 4.03 million hectares is due to be harvested, producing a bumper crop of more than 8.11 million tonnes.

That’s the second largest crop ever in South Australia, behind the monster 2001 crop of 9.36 million tonnes.

This compares to a crop of 4.74 million tonnes last year, 4.98 million tonnes in 2007 and just 2.96 million tonnes in 2006.

Premier Mike Rann says this year’s bumper crop is a huge relief for farmers who have battled drought and tough economic conditions over the past few seasons.

“This is the crop they have been waiting for. The past three seasons in particular have been well below average, so this is a very welcome result,” Mr Rann said.

“The crops, in recent years, have shown so much promise early in the season, so it’s terrific to see this year that we’ve had good weather to finish off the crops and hopefully realise the predicted bumper crop for farmers across the State.”

The Crop and Pasture Report has highlighted that good rains during July and warmer temperatures in August enabled crops in most districts to grow rapidly.

Warm, dry weather in early September slowed growth, however widespread rainfall and mild temperatures from mid September to late October provided near ideal conditions for grain development in most areas.

“The Eyre Peninsula, in particular is looking fantastic. Despite dry conditions on parts of the east coast and hail damage in September, the Eyre Peninsula has the potential to produce its largest crop ever,” Mr Rann said.

The full report will be available at www.pir.sa.gov.au/cropreport.

Tags: ,  

Comments

We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. We require a working email address - not for publication, but for verification.