Lots of unexpected finishes have happened around the country, with some very tight margins. How did each region go in the end, and what are croppers thinking about for next year?
Four agronomists give us their point of view on the wrap of the season and how growers fared, disease- and yield-wise: Emma Ayliffe (NSW), Millie Bach (Qld), David Lane (WA) and James Cant (SA).
Emma Ayliffe, Summit Ag Agricultural Consulting, Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo (NSW)
When we spoke at the start of November, Emma let us know that quite a few croppers were struggling with crops that were not mature enough to be harvested – apart from some limited oats and barley, and windrowing canola.
The rain that everyone was hoping for since the last update did not eventuate: “A few people got under a cloud, but overall, it’s been a very tight finish,” Emma says.
However, she noted that most people’s barley handled the lack of moisture better because of how quickly it finishes.
“The reality of the situation is that this has probably been a fairly normal finish. The last five years were relatively good seasons, so this is a bit more back to reality.”
The tight finish meant that, of course, disease for dryland croppers was of less concern; no diseases were “disastrous or concerning, just noticeable” – for instance, sclerotinia in canola. Only susceptible varieties with good yield potential were sprayed twice.
For irrigators in her area, Emma says that some rust affected those crops – and particularly with some unusual, slower APR expression in MS–MR varieties. “Once the heads came out, we assumed that the APR was going to kick in and everything would be ok, but it was delayed, and we had slightly higher levels of stripe rust than expected,” she explains. However, the yield losses were negligible, Emma says.
Looking ahead to next year, most cereal-rotation growers are talking about how to manage crown rot by managing stubble loads. Many growers do not have enough stubble to burn, so will be avoiding tillage over summer – plus considering any strategies that change the rotation.
For instance, Emma says, the first wheat crops of the rotation that were earmarked for wheat next year may now move into a pulse or canola.
“It’s the reality of this environment,” she says, “and a really great reminder that continuous cropping will have these risk factors that we need to have in mind when we’re doing these high pressure rotations.”
“It’s profitable when it all works, but the risk is higher on the flip side.”
David Lane, Boyup Brook Agricultural Supplies, Brook area (WA)
Crops are looking fantastic in the area, with estimated yields for early-planted canola up to 3t/ha-plus and barleys up to 6t/ha. David puts it down to having good September rains and very favourable finishing climatic conditions, especially for canola, compared to springs for the last three to four years.
Although a wetter finish can be a risk for powdery mildew rearing its head, the resistant varieties of barley have done very well, he says. Most barleys look quite clean, David says, but there is more scald in Maximus CL than has been seen for a while, and more net blotch spot form in Neo than he expected.
However, David mentions that ramularia leaf spot (a fungal disease of barley) has begun to show up in the area. He describes it as creating “small rectangular brown lesions with yellow margins in between the vein. By being more resistant to powdery mildew, the varieties are more susceptible to ramularia.”
“We’ve only just started to see it here, but my colleagues have seen it more out east,” he says. David’s clients only saw some ramularia at less-destructive late milk to early dough stages.
“Early plantings of canola (from around mid-April) seem to be the sweet spot for high yields in this area,” says David. Drones and choppers were used more this year than previous years, because of the wet winter and wet early spring, making ground applications nearly impossible; with choppers proving to be more effective for controlling radish in canola.
Regarding next year’s varieties, local growers are likely sticking with Neo, but David says oats may not be planted as significantly as in the last few years, with some people looking a bit more to wheat based on value. David is seeing more sclerotinia in canola than he has for years, and is in discussion with growers about adding in another cereal in rotation to lengthen time between canola plantings.
In the trial plots that David runs for Boyup Brook Ag Supplies, he is looking at different rates and timings of fungicides for canola-on-canola plantings, as well as experimenting with pre-emergent herbicides under ryegrass for his pasture clients.
Millie Bach, Elders Dalby, Darling Downs (Qld)
The Darling Downs has seen a variable end to the season, Millie says. Rainfall dropped away at a pivotal time when crops were starting to boot and fill, but some growers still saw significantly high-yielding barley off the early plant.
“Some of the later crops really missed out. The later we planted this season, the more the yields dropped away. But there were some fantastic yields on some early barley – so a fairly mixed bag in the end,” she says.
“It’s probably not the way the season was shaping up with the rainfall we’d had.”
Chickpeas planted later missed significant rain during flowering and pod fill, which impacted yields significantly; however, quality was good for the most part.
A plus was that the drier outlook meant very limited sprays for fungicides in chickpeas, and very limited disease pressures. Rust only affected the more susceptible wheat varieties, Millie says, and net blotch in barley was fairly low pressure.
But unfortunately, the good start to the season and a dry finish saw some severe crown rot pressure in wheat in some areas on the Darling Downs – mostly in the west – which came out in lower-than-expected yields and high screenings.
In terms of next crops, there has not been sufficient rain for large-scale planting yet of dryland cotton. Storms coming through will hopefully change this before we run into the end of the planting window, Millie says. Mung beans in December/January will probably be a good option for growers who may miss other summer crops like cotton or sorghum.
“Winter ended up a mixed bag, and summer’s shaping up a bit the same,” Millie explains. “We’re just not getting those summer storms with 2–3 inches in them, but more falls of 10–15 mm that are consistent but just not enough.”
James Cant, AGRA Independent Agronomy, Eyre Peninsula (SA)
From ultra dry to ultra wet in the space of a few weeks for Eyre Peninsula growers, James says that many people had to “flip their mindset to the high yield-potential conditions”. Then the rain continued into spring and created close to one of the coolest springs on record.
“Typically, that would be highly conducive to disease, but the crops thrived because there was not the disease loading there to take off,” James says.
Although growers used preventative fungicides for risk management which cost money, James says people were confident they made the right call at the time given the disease-conducive spring.
“We really didn’t see much in the way of rust in cereals, blotches in barley, scald in barley, black spot in canola, botrytis and ascochyta in lentils – none of the typical diseases really took off.” Even septoria in cereals didn’t climb as high as growers were concerned about, James says, so they didn’t experience the expected yield penalty.
The worry for yellow leaf spot for wheat on wheat rotations also did not eventuate – even for those with Anvil that was getting hit earlier in winter. “I remember driving around with farmers who had bad yellow leaf spot. We went and treated it and, by springtime, we really couldn’t find much in the crop at all,” James says.
Reflecting on the year, James says he saw a lot of variation in how people managed disease and how much they spent preventatively. He is keen to have people be aware of the balance of preventative spraying – for instance, the low levels and risk of blackleg in canola but very high spends.
Each year should be judged on its own merits rather than taking a generic approach to disease management, James says, because of the high expense of spraying some unnecessary fungicides.
James gives the example of concern about ascochyta in lentils: “We observed it early in the season and it had potential to carry, but some growers tended to panic spray. But in my experience, I’ve never seen aschochyta cause yield loss on the peninsula.”
Mark Gibberd, CCDM Director
Looking ahead to 2026’s variety and rotation choices
As growers look ahead to 2026, strategic planning around crop rotation and variety choice will be key. “It’s so rewarding to hear people thinking about the importance of rotation management,” says Mark, noting that early planning can reduce disease pressure and support long-term crop performance.
He also commends people’s thinking about variety selection. “Although varieties are released with a rating, that rating is not always stable over time,” Mark explains. Choosing varieties to maintain the highest possible level of resistance across seasons helps protect yields as pathogens evolve.
As always, being flexible with disease control is essential. Most growers have a disease control program written into their economic program for each variety, but Mark stresses being ready to adapt based on seasonal conditions.
He also encourages thinking about applying fungicides where they are most effective – rather than prophylactically across whole programs. “We’re really starting to think carefully about the influence of field/spatial variability on crop performance,” says Mark. Understanding how different paddocks and areas within paddocks respond to disease helps growers make precise, cost-effective management decisions.
By combining careful thought into rotation, variety choice, targeted fungicide use and spatial awareness, growers can build more resilient cropping systems.
Seeing more ramularia leaf spot
Ramularia leaf spot is starting to appear more widely across Australia. From a research perspective, this pathogen is worrying. “It has a phase where it persists in the plant, and during this time it doesn’t cause obvious disease expression. This is called an endophytic phase,” explains Mark.
Ramularia is thought to exist across many areas in Australia, and while it typically causes a low level of impact, ramularia is “incredibly adaptive”, making it a future pathogen of concern. One of the issues with ramularia is that while it is sitting in the ‘background’ with little disease impact it is likely to be adapting to local conditions and potentially also developing fungicide resistance from spay applications targeting other diseases.
“There is no doubt that this can be a damaging pathogen, in Europe, I’ve seen it ‘crashing’ barley crops. While we don’t yet have accurate predictions for Australian conditions, it can be quite significant if it becomes widespread and more aggressive,” Mark says.
Growers who notice it are encouraged to report it to the CCDM via email. Mark emphasises that early reporting helps assess the disease’s distribution and impact, just as we do with other emerging pathogens. The next few seasons will be critical.
With close collaboration between growers, advisers, and researchers, we can track ramularia and begin developing management strategies if it continues to spread.
