Australia's national crop has come under siege, with a horror September in Western Australia in particular putting forecast yields in severe doubt.
In its September crop report the Grains Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) has cut 10.2 per cent of its estimate of the WA crop from its August forecast.
Crops across the nation have endured a tough September
GIWA is now predicting total production of 12.3 million tonnes, down from 13.7m tonnes, with wheat production of 6.8m tonnes.
WA Farmers grains section president Duncan Young said a combination of heat in the north and a catastrophic frost in the Esperance port zone meant some had doubts whether total production would reach even that.
"There is still a patch of reasonable crop in the Kwinana port zones but in other areas the crop is really going to struggle," Mr Young said.
"In the Geraldton port zone they have been smacked about by some really hot weather in September, we've seen temperatures up into the high 30s so plenty of crops in that region are going to struggle to make a tonne to the hectare - some rain would help but a lot of the damage has already been done."
Mr Young said the prospects for the south-east were less well established, but added the freak frost event was drastic.
"Some people have said to me they expect it could be a 30-40pc yield loss across the entire Esperance zone, which is a very big cut, but we're really in uncharted territory on this one.
"You saw places like Salmon Gums get down as low as -5.4 and stay that cold for a long time so there is the potential for it to be fairly drastic, the farmers will find out more over the coming weeks.
