THE 2020 cropping season, much like the year itself, has taken SA growers on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows.
Good seeding conditions across the state and handy opening rains were followed by a dry June and July for many, before rains during August rejuvenated many ailing crops.
One area of the state expecting a bin-busting 2020 harvest is the lower Yorke Peninsula, with Yorketown and Foul Bay grower Joel Schmidt saying the past five years had been "phenomenal" and they were well-set for another good return.
"We had the best sowing conditions in years, nice and moist, usually we're dry sowing," he said.
"It got a little dry in July and at the start of September but it took off again after that. From the start of September we've had about 100mm (of rain)."
Mr Schmidt, who farms with his brother Daniel and father Rob, said the September rain was a "godsend", rejuvenating some struggling crops on their shallow and rocky areas.
Another 50mm on Sunday flattened some of their barley and canola, but Mr Schmidt is still predicting big yields when harvest starts in late October.
They are aiming for 4.5 tonne a hectare to 5t/ha wheat yields, 5-6t/ha barley yields and 3t/ha canola and bean yields.
The season has been full of ups and downs for Lochiel grower Nick Ottens, with a dry June and July book-ended by a textbook seeding period and wet Spring.
Running a herd of Murray Grey and Angus cattle and cropping 1200 hectares, Mr Ottens is hopeful of achieving 2.5 to 3 tonne a hectare wheat yields on his better country.
RELATED READING: Sporadic start to harvest as rain halts headers
"We had a really good start, even some saline patches we had germinated really well so we thought we were going to get some good cover out of that," he said.
"The season has dried out since then. The lack of rainfall we had in June and July really pulled back our yield potential, especially in the marginal country.
"Around home we're looking at average yields and on our marginal country it would be below average.
"We had some hay that we were going to cut but in the end we thought it was too low so we ended up spray topping that and purchased hay to replace it."
Recent rainfall has given their crops the potential to fill properly according to Mr Ottens, who is expecting to start harvest in late October.
"If we can get nice, plump grain with a bit of weight in it we might be pleasantly surprised by what's in the paddock," he said.
"We've had similar rain here to what we had last year so the potential's there but we won't know until we see what comes off the header.
"We're looking for a mild finish. I'm not sure how much benefit we'll get out of any rain going forward. If we can avoid those hot north winds and stop things from drying out that would be really favourable."
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.
