Western Australian wheat area likely to fall in 2025, GIWA says

The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) has forecasted a 9% decrease in the region's wheat planting area for the 2025 growing season, totaling around 4.19 million hectares, due to a decrease in fallow land availability. Although wheat planting is expected to decline, the association anticipates an increase in barley and canola planting areas. The southern parts of the state are currently moist, while the north is experiencing dry conditions. This trend could potentially result in a total sowing area of 9 million hectares, similar to the previous year, or a reduction to 8.5 million hectares if the predicted May dryness occurs. Australia's total wheat production is projected to decrease by approximately 16% this season due to dryness in key cropping areas.

The amount of land planted with wheat in Western Australia is set to decline by around 400,000 hectares, or 9%, this year due partly to lower availability of fallow land, an industry association said on Friday. The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA), in its first report of the growing season, estimated that 4.19 million hectares in the state would be planted with wheat, down from 4.59 million last year. “There was a large area of fallow sown to cereals in 2024, which is not available for plantings in 2025,” GIWA said. However, it predicted that area for planting barley and canola would rise, with 1.87 million hectares of barley to be sown, up from 1.77 million last year, and 1.775 million hectares of canola, up from 1.65 million hectares in 2024. Southern parts of the state, which vie with New South Wales as Australia’s top grain producing region, have moisture in the soil but northern areas are very dry, GIWA said. “The total area sown could easily hit 9 ...