Crops

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development continues to support the growth and international competitiveness of all crop industries in Western Australia.

With a 2400 kilometre span from its tropical north to its temperate south, WA supports a broad range of cropping industries from rain-fed winter cereals through to irrigated horticultural crops.

In the 2012/13 year the WA cropping industries exported a total of $3.9 billion which comprised: $3.1 billion of cereals, $859 million of pulses, pastures and oilseeds, $142 million of horticultural crops. The major contributors to these exports were wheat ($2.7 billion), canola ($756 million), barley ($377 million), lupins ($42 million), carrots at $48 million, oats ($12 million), and strawberries at $5.5 million.

Articles

  • Western Australian agriculture experiences variability in its winter growing season (May–October): late starts, early finishes and 'dry seasons' with rainfall low enough to cause serious plant and

  • Through targeted grains research and development (R&D), the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's (DPIRD) Boosting Grains Research and Development project aims to increase

  • Plant available soil water graphs show the amount of soil water accumulated from the start of summer (1 November) through the grain growing season and can be used as a tool in the seasonal decision

  • The potential yield tool uses seasonal rainfall and decile finishes, calculated from historical data, to calculate the maximum wheat yield possible in the absence of any other constraints.

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

  • Spreading clay on light, sandy soils helps to increase soil water holding capacity, retain nutrients and overcome water repellence.

  • FlowerPower is an online tool to predict cereal flowering dates (or cutting dates for oats) in your location.

  • Climate change is putting pressure on wheat yields in the south-west of Western Australia in several ways: lower annual and autumn and spring rainfall; later starts to the growing season; higher te

  • Image 1: Frost damage at booting vs healthy head

    All winter grains susceptible to frost. Wheat is more susceptible then barley at flowering, but it is not known if barley and wheat have different frost susceptibilities during grain fill.

  • In September 2017, six department research officers presented at the biennial Australian Agronomy Conference in Ballarat, Victoria.