THIS year's harvest has toyed with the emotions of graingrowers across the state.
Rain managed to finally fall after the late start to get crops up, but then a dry spring threatened crop quality.
November was inconveniently the wettest on record for some, with strong winds and hail, but grain prices remain at record highs.
One thing's for sure, according to the state government, this year's harvest will be the most lucrative.
The spring edition of its Crop & Pasture Report, updated to November 19, says SA's 2021 grain production is estimated to be 7.72 million tonnes from the 3.898m hectares sown, with a farmgate value of a hefty $3 billion.
The yield figure is almost identical to the 10-year average of 7.75mt, while last year, 4m ha were sown, with 9.135mt harvested, resulting in a $2.5b farmgate value.
Primary Industries Minister David Basham said despite an average crop estimate, high global wheat and barley prices in particular, have resulted in an increase to the projected crop value.
"We are seeing some of the highest grain price returns in Australia right here in SA and this is just reward for the hard work farmers have put in this year," he said.
The report also highlighted that despite the mixed weather conditions this year, indications were that crops had grown well, mostly due to deep soil moisture stored from June and July rains.
"While winter frost and the spring storm events on October 28 and November 6 have caused some grain losses, the report has surprisingly found that rain associated with the storm systems increased the yield prospect of undamaged ripening crops," Mr Basham said.
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Roseworthy cropper Ben Kemp said they were lucky not to see any damage from the November downpours.
"Our barley was right on the edge of being affected, but thankfully we didn't see any damage," he said.
"Our canola windrows also got blown away by the wind, making harvest difficult, but we still managed to get above-average yields.
"We did get hit by hail however. We lost more than 75pc of our north-eastern crops, near Freeling, while all of our crops got touched up one way or another."
Mr Kemp, who farms with wife Jadine and parents Peter and Annette, and also operates carting company DF&E Kemp & Sons, said they were two-thirds of the way through their 1200ha harvest and were on track for an above-average season.
"I think a lot of farmers in this region are in the same boat as us - reasonably happy with yields and the quality hovering around average to just above," he said.
Even anything downgraded is still making a good price, so it all evens out.
- BEN KEMP
"But even anything downgraded is still making a good price, so it all evens out.
"But we're going to need it with the way fertiliser and chemical prices and supply are going forward."
The "less optimistic" end-of-year cropper confidence was highlighted in another report released this week.
The latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey found after a 10-year high last quarter, SA rural sentiment had softened significantly in the past three months.
The grains sector reported the biggest decline in confidence from 69pc three months ago to 26pc this quarter.
Plus 42pc expect business conditions to worsen in the coming year, with rising input costs and supply issues dampening the otherwise generally positive outlook for the state's ag sector.
Rabobank SA regional manager Roger Matthews said disappointing spring rainfall across parts of the state contributed to the reduction in confidence.
"We saw good winter rain across SA, but then miss out in September and October, with the recent rain falls in November being generally too late to help graingrowers," he said.
"Patchy seasonal conditions in the Eyre Peninsula have seen just 9pc of farmers in the region now expecting conditions to improve, which is down from 53pc with that view in the September quarter."
Wirrulla farmer Kylie Watson said they were happy to finish harvest last week, after the wet November.
"We got 70 millimetres of rain in one event last month, and nearly 100mm for November," she said.
"We manage to get some wheat off before the rain, but most of our wheat got downgraded. Our harvest will be average, but high grain prices have definitely helped to offset some of the losses."
In the South East, farmer confidence had also eased, but the majority - at 54pc - had a stable outlook, while on the Yorke Peninsula, where harvest results had been positive, confidence has remained strong, with 43pc of farmers expecting conditions to improve.
"But areas such as the Mallee and Murraylands have received very little rain and as a result we will see some poor crops from these parts," Mr Matthews said.
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