Harvest winds up in early December on the Barlow family’s farm at Thyra in far southern NSW. Photo: Luke Barlow

AUSTRALIA has harvested its biggest barley crop ever of 16.33 million tonnes (Mt), according to the ABARES Australian Crop Report released today.

The quarterly publication has lifted the barley estimate from 15.67Mt seen in the previous report released December 2, and well ahead of the previous record of 14.65Mt set in 2020-21.

ABARES has also revised its estimate for wheat, now seen at 35.99Mt, up from 35.59Mt forecast in December, making it the biggest crop since the record 40.55Mt of 2022-23, and the third-largest wheat crop ever.

Canola at 7.68Mt is up from 7.23Mt seen in the previous report, making it Australia’s second-biggest crop, behind only the 8.44Mt of 2022-23.

Total Australian area planted to winter crops in 2025-26 is estimated to have increased slightly to a national record of 25.2M hectares, driven by an increase in the area planted in Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.

This was partially offset by a fall in the area planted in New South Wales and Victoria.

Winter-crop production in WA is estimated to have increased by 17 percent from 2024-25 to 26.9Mt in 2025-26, a new record.

This represents a 2pc upward revision from the December figure, and now sits at 29pc above the five-year average to 2024-25 of 20.8Mt.

WA’s record harvest reflects an expansion in area planted to winter crops, and above-average yields.

The SA winter-crop estimate is up 5pc from the December figure, and includes lifts to the canola and barley figures.

Vic wheat, barley and canola estimates have all risen, with the cool finish to the growing season helping to boost yields.

In NSW, the canola estimate dropped, barley was unchanged, and wheat lifted.

The report said seasonal conditions were highly variable across NSW, with favourable conditions
resulting in above-average yields in northern cropping regions, with their impact offset by below-average yields in the south.

Qld’s wheat and barley estimates both had modest upward revisions as part of the state’s record winter-crop production of 3.9Mt.

This upward revision is largely attributed to higher wheat and chickpea production than
previously forecast.

Table 1: December 2 and March 3 estimates for Australia’s 2025-26 wheat hectares and production. * figures yet to be verified. Source: ABARES

Table 2: December 2 and March 3 estimates for Australia’s 2025-26 barley hectares and production. * figures yet to be verified. Source: ABARES

Table 3: December 2 and March 3 estimates for Australia’s 2025-26 canola hectares and production. * figures yet to be verified. Source: ABARES

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