Harvest 2024-25: High spirits for Woogenellup farming family set to yield above their five-year average

It’s high spirits for the Adams and Crosby family, who are expecting to top their five-year yield average despite the dry season — an outcome Nathan Crosby says “speaks volumes” as to how far farming practices have come. Mr Crosby farms at Woogenellup with wife Kim, and his parents-in-law Mark and Heather Adams, as well as his brother-in law Stephen Adams and wife Rachel. The Adams family have had the farm since 1920, and Mr Crosby joined the team with his wife in late 2018. They grow canola and barley, which make up 90 per cent of the program, as well as wheat, which they have started to reintroduce in the past few years. The families had a relatively early start to their program and kicked off harvest at the end of October. They are a quarter of the way through their canola program, and as of October 8, have completed about 15 per cent of the entire program. Mr Crosby said the crops were yielding “quite well” considering the farm only had about 250mm of rain this year, and their canola and barley production was expected to sit comfortably above their five-year average. “It probably speaks magnitudes to where farming practices have come in the last 10-15 years,” he said. “Fifteen years ago, we would hardly grow a crop off 250 mill of rain … So, the practices are definitely working, and this year shows that. “We’re getting smarter, and getting a lot more information we can use, and making good agronomic decisions to make the most out of what is a declining rainfall across the State.” The 2024-25 harvest follows a particularly dry seeding season for the whole State. The 2023-24 summer rainfall was below average for parts of the Southern Interior, and WA’s coastal South West recorded less than 10mm for the season, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The Grain Industry Association of WA also predicted the State’s final tonnage would be hampered by the lack of finishing spring rain in many areas. Seasonal rainfall is only expected to trend downwards. “We’ve got rainfall data back to 1901 for the farm, and the general trend is we’re losing 0.5 per cent of rainfall a year, so it’s getting dryer,” Mr Crosby said. “There is no doubt we’re getting less rain year on year, so we just need to adapt with it and change our processes as we move forward, and (our expected yield) probably shows what we’re doing is working.” Mr Crosby said despite the risks that came with the job, he could not be any happier than where he was now, and said this season was a reminder of the joys and success that came from farming. “It’s a bloody good industry to be a part of, and I’ve got a lot of mates who would do anything to be farmers, so we’ve got to remember we’re so lucky to be able to do what we do,” he said.