Wheat

Wheat production accounts for 65% of total cereal production in Western Australia with about ten million tonnes generated annually in a rain-fed system across four million hectares of land.

About 95% of WA wheat is exported - predominantly to Asia and the Middle East - generating $2-5 billion in annual export earnings for the state.

Despite a decline in annual rainfall, the improvement in agronomic practices and development of new premium wheat varieties have enabled an increase in WA wheat yield over the past 30 years at a rate higher than world average.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has a strong research, development and extension focus on wheat production through its long history in wheat breeding - now privatised through Intergrain - and the development of wheat variety management packages for the state’s grain production zones.

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Articles

  • Grain being loaded into container ship at Esperance port in Western Australia

    Western Australian wheat industry

    1 November 2013

    Wheat is the major grain crop produced in Western Australia making up 65% of annual grain production and generating A$2-5 billion for the State economy each year.

  • Crown rot in wheat appears as scattered white heads

    Crop diseases: forecasts and management

    11 December 2013

    Information is provided here to assist management of diseases and viruses that occur in broadacre crops grown in Western Australia - cereals (wheat, barley, oats and triticale), pulses (field pea,

  • Wheat yield potential, sowing time and management in season 2019

    31 May 2019

    Much of the Western Australia's wheatbelt has experienced a very dry 2018–2019 summer leaving very little stored moisture at present (DPIRD, May seasonal report 2019). Yield potential varies signif

  • Annual ryegrass

    Annual ryegrass

    6 October 2011

    Annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) is one of the most serious and costly weeds of annual winter cropping systems in southern Australia.

  • Cover of the 2022 WA Crop Sowing Guide with Rod and Andrew Messina of Mullewa in front of their seeding rig

    2022 Crop Sowing Guide for WA

    8 November 2021

    The crop sowing guide for Western Australia is a one stop shop for variety information on all the major crops grown in Western Australia.

  • An air seeder seeding on stubble

    Frost risk – manage wheat variety and sowing time

    14 December 2010

    Wheat is highly susceptible to frost damage between ear emergence and flowering – often termed reproductive frost.

  • Yellow spot appears as tan elongated lesions with yellow margins, with leaf dying back from tip

    Managing yellow spot and septoria nodorum blotch in wheat

    5 December 2013

    Leaf spot diseases affecting wheat in Western Australia are septoria nodorum blotch, yellow spot and septoria tritici blotch.

  • Capeweed flower head

    Capeweed reduces crop yield

    4 February 2011

    In Western Australia, competition from 7-90 capeweed plants per square metre in a wheat crop can reduce crop yield by 28-44% and net return by 25-76%.

  • Wheat susceptible to SNB on flag leaf

    Improving resistance to septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) in wheat

    9 February 2016

    Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) is a significant fungal disease of wheat.  Resistant varieties would complement on-farm disease management practices to maintain grain yields under disease epidemics.

  • Wild radish flowering heads

    Wild radish

    18 May 2012

    Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) is highly competitive in crops and can cause a yield loss of 10-90%.

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