WHILE some grain receivals are still trickling in to CBH sites around the State, the majority of farmers have finished with the 2020/21 season.
The season exceeded expectations all throughout the grain growing areas, with yields more than often going above average, despite lower rainfall for the year.
The latest figures from CBH put total receivals for the season at 15 million tonnes, with the split equalling 2.84mt in Geraldton, 3.68mt in Kwinana North, 2.76mt in Kwinana South, 3.08mt in Albany and 2.7mt in Esperance.
Farm Weekly followed up with some growers we visited in 2020 to see how they fared at harvest.
MURRAY HALL - BROOKTON
Murray Hall described 2020 as an astonishing year that saw crops go decile six or seven off decile one or two rainfall for the growing season.
Mr Hall had 20 per cent less rainfall in 2020 than the year before, but 40pc more yield, which he believes goes to show the power of a better September.
"In 2019 we received no rain after August 30, we also had some heat stress and a bit of frost in the boot stage," he said.
"2020 wasn't a particularly wet September, but it was a milder finish and no frost, but we've really got to dig into it and find out what the difference is.
"Early in the season people get a good rain in May and suddenly everyone is talking about 15 million tonne yields, but at the end of the day it all comes down to what happens in September."
While there was a small patch of frost in some canola, localised to the West Pingelly area, which was very disappointing, the majority of the crops were exceptional.
There were also some disruptions during harvest due to rain and harvest bans, but other than that, in terms of machines and staff, everything went pretty smoothly.
"We finished harvest on Boxing Day," Mr Hall said.
"We got held up with a tedious breakdown on one of the harvesters and had to wait for a part. "If it wasn't for that we would have been done about four days before Christmas, which is about average for us."
BRAD WEST - WONGAN HILLS
A combination of deep ripping, soil amelioration and decent August rainfall was enough to get the crops over the line for Brad West.
It was a low decile year for Mr West, with total rainfall varying across the property but limited to between 180 and 200 millimetres for the year.
"We got reasonable rain in August with 65mm, which is when we really needed it, but after that we pretty much had nothing," Mr West said.
"However we ended up yielding far better than the rainfall we received, with most crops going average to a touch above average, it was definitely above expectation so we were very pleased."
Harvest across the 13,000 hectares began towards the end of October and was wrapped up about a week before Christmas.
"The rain in November only had a minor impact on us, we only got about 6mm for the month so it only delayed us for a day or two at the max," Mr West said.
Last year, Mr West seeded 1640ha of his program to barley, but he anticipates that will decline slightly in 2021.
"This year barley will be the crop a lot of people are thinking hard about, we will probably reduce our plantings a little and swing that into wheat," he said.
ROSS AND SHAUN FITZSIMONS - BUNTINE
With one paddock decimated by hail in November, the 2020 season wasn't ideal for the Fitzsimons family in Buntine, but overall it was still better than anticipated.
In general, yields were all below average, but considering the severe lack of rainfall, the crops still beat father and son duo, Ross and Shaun's, expectations.
"The lack of rainfall really hurt us towards the end of the year, everyone was pretty happy in August but September onward was really dry and really hard," Shaun said.
Harvest of the 4100 hectare cropping program started in the middle of October and finished about two weeks before Christmas.
In November, the Fitzsimons were well and truly put to the test, with rain and hail wreaking havoc.
"We got rain across the whole farm and that didn't cause any dramas quality wise, however we also got hit by hail with up to 80 per cent loss across one wheat paddock," Shaun said.
"I actually would have preferred 100pc, because I wouldn't have had to worry about harvesting it, but in the end that paddock only averaged about 300 kilograms per hectare.
"A couple of other paddocks were also damaged, but not as significantly, with 20 to 30pc damage, so it was only the one initial paddock that we really lost a lot on."
With a new season already upon them, spraying has started with a focus on the paddocks that received extra moisture and subsequent weed sprouting as a result of the November weather.
MURRAY MCCARTNEY - CHAPMAN VALLEY
AN above average harvest was achieved on the McCartney's farm in Chapman Valley, with the process going as smoothly as they could hope for.
The farm is owned and run by Colin McCartney, with the assistance of his five sons - Erinn, Murray, Haydn, Ken and Regan - who all work within the agricultural industry.
The harvest program, which is between 1000 and 2000 hectares and made up of approximately five per cent lupins, a third canola and the rest wheat, began in the second week of October and finished before the end of November.
"It was a pretty straight forward harvest," Murray said.
"We didn't really have any issues with harvest bans and while there were a couple of damp mornings as we're close to the coast, that didn't cause any issues."
For them, Murray attributed the above average harvest to timely rainfall and cool spring temperatures.
"It didn't get really hot and heat up here is the equivalent of the frost down south," he said.
"If we had had a nice spring rain, it could have turned into anything, but we're still pretty happy with where it ended up."