October 5, 2006

Grain harvest begins early in Southern Australia

Despite low yields, Ian Mudge, a farmer from the Port Pirie city of Australia who reaped about 300 hectares of peas and barley was happy his grain turned out to be of reasonable quality.

However, he cautioned, not all crops would be worth harvesting and expected to be through well before Christmas.

On the far west coast of the Eyre Peninsula, the Thevenard silos also reported their first delivery of oats.

Meanwhile, the estimated value of South Australia's crop production slashed to US$600 million, about half of what it was last year.

A possibility of shutting down silos over the summer also could not be ruled out, with two already been done so, confirmed Peter Weaver, operations manager.

The only hope that remains now is to wait for rain in order to get a plateau effect and get some grain into the system.