With a haul of 27.35 million tonnes the 2025-26 grain harvest in WA broke the state’s seasonal production record by over 1 million tonnes
The 2025-26 grain growing season in Western Australia ended on a record harvest, something growers in the state are used to as this is the fourth record result from the past five winter seasons.
Record production was fuelled by exceptionally good yields in three of the five port zones and good yields across the other two.
Adequate rainfall in July and August 2025 in most areas followed by mild temperatures during grain-fill allowed crops to push water use efficiency to very high levels.
An increase in total crop area planted, up 6.8% from the previous record production in season 2022-23, was mostly in higher rainfall regions where crops thrived.
And to show there is more growth still be achieved in WA, this record result was achieved with the Wheat area plantings down 3.3%, and canola was also down 7.3%.
But of course, some of that ground was taken up with increased plantings of other crops, such as barley up by 26.4%, lupins up 17.4% and oats up 65.1% in total oat area, including oats for hay feed.
Not every growing region in WA was treated equally by the elements, wheat crops in the central regions of the state suffered from a later start and less spring rain than further north and south.
And that resulted in yields being below previous record years and grain quality was erratic with both high screenings and low protein resulting in downgraded quality segregations. Grain quality for wheat was also erratic in the southern regions with low falling numbers, sprouting and low protein also resulting in downgrading.
Wheat growers that stayed away from the swing to higher barley plantings in the state and stuck to their traditional income were frustrated to find their crops did not perform as well as barley for a range of reasons.
While barley growers had a dream run in 2025-26 and avoided most of the frost that shaved off over a million tonnes of wheat in the central regions of the state.
Wheat also suffered more from grain quality issues where rainfall was light going into spring. The mild spring extended the grain fill period, and where moisture reserves were low going into spring, wheat crops failed to fill the many available grain fill sites fully.
Conversely, this slow maturity period pushed grain yields for wheat to heights never seen before in areas that had adequate subsoil moisture, but where top growth was excessive driven by the warm wet early stages of spring, this extended mild finish resulted in wheat crops slowly transpiring themselves to extinction and resulted in significant yield loss from grain weight and then downgrading for quality.
Barley grain yields and quality in most regions were good although many growers opted for voluntary downgrades to Feed due to the low malt barley premiums and simpler logistics for delivery. Barley profitability exceeded wheat in many areas and on the back of this, an expansion in barley area is likely for the 2026-27 growing season.
Canola was again the most profitable crop for growing regions in WA with the combination of above average grain yields and prices holding up giving a boost in returns for growers.
The price premium for CAN (non-GM) over CAG (GM) at harvest and going into the 2026-27 season will see the slight substitution out of CAG to CAN that occurred in 2025-26 continuing in the southern regions next season, particularly as the yields for newer IMI (imidazolidine) and TT (Triazine) varieties are getting closer to the Roundup Ready® lines.
It is also expected the area planted to canola will go up in season 2026-27, especially if there is an early positive looking break, and particularly following recent rainfall from ex-cyclone Mitchell delivering subsoil moisture across significant areas of the grain belt.
The area planted to lupin increased by 11.2% above the 2024-25 season, pushing production over 900,000 tonnes for the first time in more than 15 years. Variable grain yields and the cap on price in Western Australia continue to hamper the crop and a reduction in area substituted to canola is predicted by some industry watchers for the 2026-27 season.
Oats has continued its push to becoming a substantial crop for growers in Western Australia with oats harvested for grain content consistently sitting around 60% of the area planted for the crop, over the last four years, with the remaining crop planting going to hay.
Both oat grain and oat hay reached production levels just over 1 million tonnes in 2025-26 and whilst prices have come off from highs at the start of the growing season, they haven’t crashed as in the past.
With growing markets coupled with growers having greater confidence in being able to reliably hit higher yields under a range of seasonal conditions has prompted some industry watchers to call an end to the boom-and-bust cycles of the past. However, early indications are that the crop area will contract in 2026-27 due to some questions around the sustained year-on-year growth putting a block on prices.
Pulse crops went well in most growing regions of WA in 2025, although prices remain a major stumbling block for further substantial expansion. Coupled to this industry watchers see a raft of hurdles for all the pulse crops to overcome before there is likely to be any significant jump in area planted in future seasons.
The most promising from pulse crops appears to be is lentils, based on 2025-26 yields across the state, whilst the area planted to faba beans, field peas and chickpeas are all likely to stay stagnant in upcoming season 2026-27.
For many growers in high production regions, operating margins were good due to relatively high yields, even though grain prices were down from previous years.
Across the state, the total value of production was greater than the previous record year in 2022-23, although this was skewed to the perimeters of the grain belt, with the central regions where crops were lower yielding recording significantly lower operating margins than 2022-23.
Even coming off a record season, at this stage there is caution reflected in the tight budgets growers are prepared to outlay for upcoming season 2026-27, even though it is expected some of the main input costs such as fertiliser and chemical products will not spike in price.
Western Australia estimated crop production season 2025-26
