mmg.com.au

It’s the best season in years.

That’s what Boomanoomana grain grower Paul Brooks has said about this year’s harvest — thanks to favourable conditions, good yield and good grain prices.

‘‘It doesn’t get much better than this and I’ve been in the game for a long time,’’ he said.

‘‘I think I should retire.

‘‘There was plenty of water to irrigate and the 100 per cent allocation meant water was a cheap commodity this season, too.

‘‘The season hadn’t been interrupted by heavy rain.

‘‘We only had some small showers and thankfully that wasn’t enough to cause any damage to the crop.’’

Mr Brooks had 7000ha to harvest but still managed to finish it off early, just a few days before the big rainfall on the Saturday two weeks ago.

Tocumwal canola grower Ted Hatty said he and his neighbours were also pleased with how the harvest went this season.

‘‘It was definitely a better-than-average end result,’’ Mr Hatty said.

‘‘Cereal and canola averaged about half a tonne to the acre.

‘‘We started harvest on the last week of November and finished just a few days before the rain storm, so that was good timing.

‘‘We definitely all finished a bit earlier this year.

‘‘That’s probably because we started earlier than we normally would, we have slightly better machinery and we had a good turn-around at the silos.

‘‘Now we’re just looking forward to having a relaxing time over Christmas with the family and then our focus turns to rice, which should be ready to harvest by late May or early April.’’

Meanwhile, Barooga grain grower Brad Stillard said his harvest started later than usual but also managed to wrap it all up before the rain came.

‘‘Most of the guys around here are finished now,’’ he said.

‘‘The maturity of the grain crop was slowed a bit because of the cool finish, but those conditions were just ideal for the canola.

‘‘It has been heaps better than last year in general because the cash prices for grain have been on an upward trend.

‘‘Everyone’s pretty happy, mostly because we had good yields and good prices.’’

Mr Stillard grows canola, wheat and barley and will turn to soy beans as his summer crop of choice in the new year.