2021-22 Harvest Updates, page-220

This is part of an article from 'Weekend AFR' that doens't paint a good picture, but notably no one from the central west or southern Riverina was interviewed. Gunnedah is on the Moree rail line in northwestern NSW:

"...Queensland farmers have already harvested the bulk of their winter crops before the heavy rain, but this is not the case in NSW where most crops are still in the ground.

The downgrading of quality and loss of quantity in NSW crops such as barley, wheat, canola and chickpeas is expected to top $2 billion, according to NSW Farmers.

Gunnedah grain farmer Xavier Martin said his 1000-hectare property – where he grows broadacre crops including durum wheat and bread wheat – had already been hit badly by heavy rain.

“We were just checking to see if the moisture in the wheat was low enough [to harvest and store] in the days before this rain.

“The actual rain event does a lot of damage to the quality of the crop, so it’s not suitable for bread or pasta and it’s only suitable for industrial purposes. And the inundation of the rain knocking it flat and into the mud also causes damage and reduces the yield.”

Mr Martin, who is also the vice-president of NSW Farmers, said his crop in the Namoi Valley had gone under three times in the past 10 days, with one of the inundations high enough to be considered as bad as a one-in-50 year events.

Like many other farmers throughout NSW, Mr Martin will be sweating on some dry weather to allow his crop to be harvested before Christmas.

It has already been degraded so that it is unlikely to be used for human consumption and instead will be used for animals..."