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<\/p>\nAustralian farmers are set to produce less wheat, barley and canola this year because of dry seasonal conditions and high input costs.<\/p>\n
But they are on track to produce Australia’s biggest crop of lentils.<\/p>\n
National commodities forecaster ABARES says lentil production is set to rise 3 per cent to a record 2.2 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
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Lentil production is on the rise in Australia. (Supplied: Market Check)<\/p>\n
“Plantings have exploded across Victoria and South Australia, with production now creeping into places like WA and New South Wales,” said Market Check chief executive Nick Crundall.<\/p>\n
“Since 2020 there’s been nearly a 150 per cent increase in acreage planted to lentils, so there’s a been a massive response from growers.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said there were a few reasons growers had shifted to lentils, including the crop’s ability to fix nitrogen, which meant it didn’t need as much fertiliser.<\/p>\n
“You don’t need to apply nearly as much, if any nitrogen, so you can get around some of the input cost pressures by growing lentils compared to say canola.”<\/p>\n
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Lentil production is up, but ABARES expects Australia’s total winter crop production to fall by 21 per cent.\u00a0 (ABC Landline)<\/p>\n
Volumes up, but prices down<\/p>\n
Lentil prices went beyond $1,000 a tonne a couple of years ago, but with production rising in Australia and Canada, prices are under pressure.<\/p>\n
“The lentil price is about $660\/tonne delivered into Melbourne\/Geelong at the moment, so gone are the days of $1,000 tonne lentils,” Mr Crundall said.<\/p>\n
“Prices are still solid, but they’re trending lower because of more acres [dedicated to lentils] and also large stocks that are still sitting in Victoria from last year’s harvest.”<\/p>\n
Mr Crundall said more than half of last year’s lentil harvest in Victoria was yet to be sold.<\/p>\n
“Lentils are sitting in sheds and silos, so growers have said no to these lower prices, but that’s now adding to the current outlook which is struggling to see a rally,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The obvious implication of this is that it’s a bearish outlook.”<\/p>\n
Loading…Betting on lentils<\/p>\n
In the South Australian government’s latest Crop and Pasture Report, it estimated lentil plantings would increase by 12 per cent in the state compared to last season.<\/p>\n
“This firmly establishes lentils as the third largest crop area [in South Australia] behind wheat and barley,” it said.<\/p>\n
Grower Matt Cadd, who farms on SA’s Yorke Peninsula, said he had increased his lentil planting by 25 per cent.<\/p>\n
“Given the high fertiliser cost over the last couple of years, canola has dropped out [of our program],” he told the SA Country Hour.<\/p>\n
“So we’re just doing wheat and lentils this year.”<\/p>\n
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Australian lentils are mostly exported, to countries such as India and Bangladesh. (ABC News: Heidi Sze)<\/p>\n
He said despite lower lentil prices, it was still a good option for his farm this year.<\/p>\n
“Lentils actually have nodules on their roots and take atmospheric nitrogen and fixate it into the soil,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“So they don’t require any synthetic nitrogen [fertiliser] application and actually fix some nitrogen into the soil for the next year’s crop, like a wheat crop, to use.”<\/p>\n