Field peas growing in the Hillston district of south-central NSW. Photo: Aaron Hutchison

ABARES has made only minor adjustments to its estimates for Australia’s chickpea, faba bean, field pea and lentil crops in its quarterly Australian Crop Report out today.

However, the national forecaster has cut its estimate for the national lupin crop 13 percent to 1.05 million tonnes (Mt) from 1.21Mt seen when initial forecasts for the current winter crop were released June 2.

While increases in Australia’s three major winter crops – wheat, barley, and canola – have lifted ABARES forecast for the total winter crop 12pc from the June figure to 60.9Mt, the total for Australia’s five major pulses has fallen slightly to 5.45Mt from 5.6Mt seen previously.

ABARES has provided a rundown of conditions for chickpeas, lentils, and lupins as follows:

Chickpeas

At 380,000ha, area planted to chickpeas in Queensland is seen as 25pc below last year’s, reflecting dry conditions across southern and Central Qld.

The Qld chickpea crop is forecast at 570,000t, down 42pc from last year, and down from 650,000t in the June figures.

In New South Wales, dry conditions in the north have estimated chickpea area at 345,000ha, down 47pc from last year, and production forecast at 450,000t, representing a massive 62pc drop from 2025-26.

Lentils

In Victoria, lentils are forecast to produce 933,000t from 533,000ha, representing a 0.8pc and 0.6pc increase respectively from last year.

Lentils are part of a record total winter-cropping area for Vic, which reflects the ideal start to the season across all cropping regions, and the continued expansion of cropping into grazing areas.

Vic’s lentil production is now expected to break last  year’s record of 925,000t.

On 1.2Mt, SA is also expected to break its record set last year by a 1.11Mt crop.

SA lentil area is seen at 600,000ha, up from last year’s record 580,000t.

Lupins

Western Australia is Australia’s biggest lupin producer by far, and its production is seen at 860,000t from 450,000ha, down from 990,000t from 500,000ha estimated in the June crop report.

Minimal winter rainfall has seen soil moisture levels fall to average in the Geraldton and Esperance regions and below-average in the Albany and southern Kwinana regions.

This has contributed to the drop in the average yield estimate for WA, now seen at 1.91t/ha versus 1.98t/ha forecast in June.

Table 1: Initial and revised 2026-27 area and tonnage estimates for Australia’s major pulse crops. Source: ABARES