THE state’s stop-start harvest continued this week, with farmers racing to reap as much as possible before forecasted wet weather.
Matthew Starick, Punthari, started harvest in early November and had only 15 hectares left to go on Tuesday evening.
He crops about 2000ha and also runs a piggery.
“I’ve had only 120 millimetres of rain for the whole year, so yields are obviously well down,” he said.
“It’s gone better than I thought it would, considering the rainfall.
“But that said, I usually sell half of the grain I produce and keep half for the piggery. This year all the grain will be going into the piggery.”
Mr Starick sowed just wheat and barley this year, due to the dry start to the season.
While the Punthari area has not experienced the high rainfall readings other areas have had this harvest, it has still been enough to cause delays.
“We haven’t had a lot of rain, but it’s been just wet and just cool enough to hold us up,” Mr Starick said.
