South Australia's Harvest Season Kicks Off with Promising Crop Yields

The harvest season in South Australia has begun, and it's expected to be one of the best in years. Jesse Chandler was among the first farmers to deliver his crop, a load of Commodus barley on September 24.

Milton Chandler, who farms with his family at Charra, said this is the earliest they've ever harvested. 'I think it was 14 or 15 [2014 or 2015] we reaped the Friday before the AFL grand final and delivered on the Monday,' he said. This year, they started harvesting on September 24.

The Chandler's have estimated that they'll harvest around 4 tonnes per hectare with their barley. 'Normally even in our good years we'll have a period during the growing season when the crop will have a bit of a moisture check but this year it's almost been textbook,' Milton said.

PIRSA has revised up the state's crop yield forecast again, estimating 11,591,000 tonnes will be harvested from an area of 4,234,000 hectares. Growers are hoping to make up for low grain prices and high input costs with big yields.