
Sorghum harvesting is under way in northern NSW. Pioneer Seeds recently held a grain sorghum field walk at its Moree site to demonstrate its hybrid varieties. Photo: Pioneer Seeds
SORGHUM harvesting is under way in northern New South Wales and pockets of Queensland’s Darling Downs following an earlier-than-usual planting in many districts.
On the Liverpool Plains, traditionally NSW’s later sorghum area, growers are almost a month away from commencing harvest of the September-planted crop.
Sorghum harvest kicked off last week for early planted crops in the Moree region and north to the Qld border.
B&W Moree agronomist Brad Donald said while most crops were looking really good, some paddocks that “missed the storms in November and didn’t do as well as we expected”.
He said the yield difference between crops that got and missed that rain was around 1.5 tonnes per hectare.
“They looked exceptionally good all the way through, and some missed the late storms during that grain-fill period, which has hurt the yield,” Mr Donald said.
Mr Donald said most crops were planted in early September, with only small areas planted in December.
Beefwood/Kurstjens Farming manager Glenn Coughran said the operation, which farms between Moree and the Qld border, had almost finished harvesting its sorghum.
He said this was the first time the operation had commenced planting from late August thanks to positive weather conditions.
“We’ve had a pretty good growing season,” Mr Coughran said.
“We were pretty lucky and got under the storms with our sorghum crop.”
He estimates yields will be around the 5t/ha mark.
Early Downs harvest
Like northern NSW, some Darling Downs growers planted in late August, and those crops are now being harvested.
Dalby-based Elders agronomist Millie Bach said overall the crops were looking “pretty good”, although there were some reports of minor sprouting in patches impacted by heavy rain.
“There was a little bit of sprouting in some stuff just from the rainy weather, but it’s not too bad and most will get away with it,” Ms Bach said.
“The crops are pretty amazing, so I think we would be looking at six, seven and eight-tonne yields coming off, which would be fantastic.”
She said harvest of the early crop will ramp up into February and early March, while the December-planted sorghum was expected to come off in late March and April.
“There’s a few of those early crops coming off now, but the majority will probably be in the next couple of weeks in that February window, and then going into March for the next lot.”
Liverpool Plains harvest weeks away
Liverpool Plains growers are yet to begin harvest, with the earliest crops set to be sprayed out soon and harvest expected to start mid to late February.
Caroona-based AMPS agronomist Dean Whitton said cooler nights and fewer days over 35 degrees Celsius had benefited the sorghum crop.
“The summer has been mild and there hasn’t been any sorghum that’s been cooked in the boot or anything like that,” Mr Whitton said.
“The yields should be good overall.”
He said the Liverpool Plains had a strong sorghum area this season, contrasting with below-average plantings in north-west NSW.
“It wouldn’t be as big as the 2022 summer, but it wouldn’t be too far off it.”
Mr Whitton said growers were wary of rainfall events forecast for next week, with patchy storms already causing some damage to summer crops.
“We have been copping storms, a fair few of them with rocks in them.
“There has been some damage in summer crops from hail.”
Planting is currently under way in Central Qld, where harvest usually commences late April.
In its December Australian Crop Report, ABARES forecast Australia’s 2024-5 sorghum crop at 2.1 million tonnes (Mt), slightly below the 2023-24 crop of 2.215Mt.
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