Queensland growers are anxiously checking their sorghum as reports persistent rain had taken a toll on ripe crops and caused grain to sprout which could drastically reduce the price of their harvest tonnage and wipe out more than $100 million of value.
AgForce Grains president and Grain Producers Australia board northern region director Brendan Taylor said "too much rain" had caused growers great concern.
Mr Taylor said if sorghum quality had been downgraded due to sprouting or mould it could incur a discount of $50 a tonne to $100/t on current sorghum bids of around $325/t ex-farm.
"Sprouting has been reported and if downgrades occur it could wipe off $100 million to $200 million from the value of our sorghum crops," he said.
"If a crop was valued at $350/t and it gets downgraded to $250/t then this is a massive loss."
Speaking from his property Broadlea at Warra west of Dalby on the Darling Downs, where he had planted 300ha, Mr Taylor said the constant wet weather had caused much concern.
"It's too early to tell how much damage would be caused by sprouting or mould," he said.
"The biggest risk now is we have crop already downgraded and very wet conditions underfoot making harvest difficult and a looming weather system.
"The bulk of the crop is yet to be harvested and is still at the mercy of the weather and the looming forecast has everyone on tenterhooks."
Mr Taylor said he believed the 10 per cent of sorghum crops harvested prior to the rain would be fine.
"Most people in the Darling Downs and in southern Queensland where they have done harvesting are reporting yields in the 7t/ha to 9t/ha range and some are saying it's the best sorghum they have ever grown," he said.
"But with the forecast rain looming over us later this week there are significant tonnes of sorghum at risk of weather damage."
He said while some producers were thrilled about the recent rains, for grain growers it was very unfortunate timing.
"From a summer crop point of view this rain is horrendous," he said.
"The other issue with the recent 40 millimetres to 70mm of rain we have had means the paddocks are very muddy and the machinery can get bogged when we harvest."
Maintaining an optimistic mindset was vital, Mr Taylor said.
"Until we can get it tested we are trying to stay positive," he said.
"Until we get the samples on the white tray and have them tested, we won't know the extent."
According to Grain Corp's Sorghum Standards 2023 - 2024 there can be 3pc sprouted grain in Sorghum 1, the top quality grade, and 10pc in Sorghum 2.
In March the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science said sorghum production was forecast to fall by 23pc in 2023-24 to 1.4 million tonnes, down from record production levels in 2022-23.
ABARES said the lack of rainfall leading up to planting limited summer area for 2023-24 compared to 2022-23 as well as some parts of the inner and southern Downs not getting fully planted and the area planted to sorghum was forecast to fall by around 15 pc to 415,000ha.
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