Final yield figures are yet to be provided by SunRice, but Nutrien Ag Solutions Deniliquin agronomists Matt Tubb predicts it will be lower than the 450,000 tonnes of paddy the company predicted before harvest began.
Growing numbers of rodents have been inhabiting farms, homes and offices, and have been particularly been a headache for farmers.
And Mr Tubb warned the mice are not done yet.
‘‘Mice definitely got into the edge of some summer crops,’’ Mr Tubb said.
‘‘People who were able to bait were able to alleviate that, but they are definitely problematic.
‘‘They will be across the winter crop too.’’
Mr Tubb said individual yield results across his client base have been mixed, saying ‘‘some people did okay, others had a trickier season progressing rates’’.
Despite improved confidence at sowing — with water availability pointing to the largest Riverina rice crop in three years — Mr Tubb said the cooler conditions tampered with crops.
The conditions also caused the harvest to be drawn out.
‘‘It wasn’t the best season,’’ Mr Tubb said.
‘‘The cool finish saw guys sit on their hands while waiting for maturity.
‘‘It was a mild season, with not a lot of rain so water use was up.
‘‘Reiziq was main variety grown (in our area) and earlier sown crops seemed to perform the best.’’
At the start of the rice growing season, SunRice reported there were 475 growers with rice in across the Riverina region. They were growing a combined 44,000 hectares of rice.
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