Fortunately, higher yields from most farmers have mitigated the damage of the world market.

While most farmers in the region are finally able to take a well-earned rest, some are still finishing off their harvest duties.

Primary producer Rick Martin – whose farm is located about 15 minutes east of Wagga – was still on the header when The Daily Advertiser talked to him this week.

Mr Martin said he was on his last paddock of wheat and still had another 41 hectares of lupin to harvest. He would usually be finished before Christmas.

The farmer said wheat prices were well down on recent years due to a glut of wheat around the world, and he planned to store his wheat in the hope the market would rebound in coming months.

“We’ve got prices we had back in the ’80s,” the farmer said.

“More and more farmers are using storage.”

Mr Martin said his canola yielded close to two tonne per hectare with an oil content ranging from 44 to over 47 per cent.

Canola’s base payment percentage is 42 per cent – meaning a bonus is paid to farmers about this number. Conversely, a penalty is applied if the percentage is below 42 per cent.

“Yields have been good,” Mr Martin said.

“The rain a week ago knocked about my wheat.”

He remarked at how much rain fell in the region over winter and spring.

“Thankfully, I’ve got undulating country,” he said.

Australian Wheat Board (AWB) territory manager Darren Patterson said overall southern NSW canola growers yielded a little less than expected due to the above average rainfall.

“But the quality was pretty good – oil content was up,” Mr Patterson said.

But the opposite was the case with wheat.

“The rain was beneficial – 99 per cent of farmers’ yields were up on the long-term average, which offset the lower prices,” he said.

“We’ve had 7-8 tonnes per hectare off a dry land farm – that’s irrigation type yields.”

Mr Patterson said the protracted harvest this season was a throwback to conditions before the turn of the century, with a proper spring.

“We’ve been having short, sharp harvests (in recent years),” he said.

Lockhart Shire mayor and former grain farmer Rodger Schirmer said farmers in his area were reporting vastly different accounts.

“Some people are saying (their canola crops) are as good as it’s ever been,” Councillor Schirmer said, but added some said it was their worst harvest.

“Overall, it was an average year.”