Contractors and farmers face a balancing act this harvest
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Contract harvesters are facing a series of logistical headaches this season as they make their way between their farming clients in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Flooding across the eastern states has left many access roads damaged with some still under water, and many contractors will have trouble making their way between jobs.
Chief executive officer of Australian Custom Harvesters Trevor Verlin said this year would see a considerable variation from the traditional harvest path from the north to south.
"The conditions in the field are what you might call a real tapestry," he said.
"This is because of the different varieties being sown, the different rainfall patterns and moisture availability has seen the crop coming in at all different stages from southern Queensland to northern Victoria."
Widespread, heavy rain in the NSW central west has devastated crops in the region this year.
However, parts the state's grain belt are expecting to harvest some decent crops in the next two months.
Barley harvest is underway in the state's north-west and windrowing of canola has kicked off elsewhere.
Peter Matthews from the Department of Primary Industries said there was still potential in crops in the Riverina.
"If you haven't been on a major river, a lot of crops that haven't seen waterlogging have been doing extremely well and they're going to see above average yields."
One beneficiary of the winter and spring wet weather has been the region's dams and water storages.
Topics: crop-harvesting, agricultural-crops, floods, dubbo-2830
