Darling Downs grower Lachlan Nass and son Stanley in the family’s thriving crop of A88 sorghum planted late August. Photo: Pioneer Seeds

ABARES has revised down its forecast for Australia’s 2024-25 sorghum crop to 2.1 million tonnes (Mt) in its quarterly Australian Crop Report released on Tuesday.

This is a drop of 300,000t from its September report and now pegs production below the 2023-24 result of 2.215Mt.

If realised, the crop would still be well above the 10-year average to 2023-24 of 1.7Mt.

“The fall reflects an expected 4-percent decline in area planted to sorghum due to a reduction in area left fallow following the large winter crop in many sorghum-growing regions,” the report said.

ABARES predicts that late sorghum planting is also a possibility given rainfall during spring and early summer boosting soil moisture levels.

“The increased chance of above average summer rainfall and high soil moisture levels are expected to support the production potential of sorghum crops.”

Chickpeas bite into Qld area

Queensland’s sorghum production is forecast to fall by 5pc to 1.4Mt, according to ABARES.

This is down from the September report’s estimate of 1.7Mt, but still 22pc above the 10-year average to 2023–24.

Area planted to sorghum is also forecast to decline by 4pc to 398,000ha.

According to ABARES, this decline is due to a combination of lower grain prices and less area availability due to a large winter crop.

AgForce grains president Brendan Taylor said increased chickpea area has led to lower sorghum interest in the Darling Downs.

“I generally think the area planted to sorghum will be down on previous years just purely on the fact that there was so much winter crop planted,” Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor said following decent rain and warm temperatures in mid-August, many growers opted to plant early.

“A lot of the sorghum has already been planted…in late August, early September which was a very early planting date.”

Dalby-based Elders agronomist Millie Bach said some crops planted following isolated falls in September and October had struggled to take off.

“The strike on some of that wasn’t great and it dried out very quickly, and then we had cold weather just after planting which didn’t help,” Ms Bach said.

She said this crop was “loving the moisture” and was “coming up” after the recent widespread falls.

Ms Bach said, with paddocks gradually drying up, growers were planting or preparing to plant more sorghum.

“There is a bit more going in at the moment and more to come…we can easily plant into January.”

NSW production down

ABARES has revised down NSW sorghum production by a modest 50,000t to 700,000t and area by 10,000ha to 170,000ha in 2024-25.

Like Qld, this cut is also due to large winter-crop plantings limiting the area available for sorghum.

Despite this fall, production remains 35pc above the 10-year average to 2023-24.

The average yield is forecast to reach 4.12t/ha, an above average result for NSW.

“Average to above-average rainfall throughout spring and a favourable summer rainfall outlook are expected to support above-average sorghum yields in New South Wales,” the report said.

In Moree, AMPS agronomist Tony Lockrey said sorghum area was “a bit down” on last season due to a larger chickpea crop.

He said recent rainfall had boosted the crops with many “charging along”.

“The sorghum is in head; it looks like an irrigated crop,” Mr Lockrey said.

He said most sorghum around Moree was planted early, from late August, after rain and during warm temperatures.

“A lot of our sorghum is in grain-fill; the earlier sorghum is starting to colour, a lot of it has flowered in the last couple of weeks.”

Mr Lockrey said more rain was forecast in the coming days which should further lift sorghum crops.

“More is predicted and it’s definitely still steamy, but not sure when it will eventuate.

“The sorghum crop will be awesome with that; it’s not going to be worried by too much moisture at this stage.”

On the Liverpool Plains, crops were mostly planted in September and October.

Pursehouse Rural Gunnedah agronomist Charlie Oates said the recent falls were patchy, with reports of 90-100mm west of Gunnedah, while other regions only recorded 20-40mm.

He said overall the sorghum was coming along well, with crops in some localities “looking good and coming away after a bit of rain”.

Mr Oates said crops around Tamworth had struggled “from the get-go” due to hot temperatures and winds but the recent rain had “brought it up a bit”.

He said a few pockets of growers were looking to capitalise on soil moisture and plant sorghum this month.

“A few people might get a bit excited for a late plant on the Plains,” Mr Oates said.

“It’s late, but it’s an opportunity if they get the varieties right.”

He said these growers would need to opt for shorter-sesaon varieties to reduce the risks leading into harvest.

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