Western Australian growers are planting a record 2.28 million hectares of canola this season as stronger returns and one of the earliest sowing programs on record align.

WA growers sowed about 4.3 million ha of wheat in 2025, compared with 3.725 million this year, while barley climbed to 2.165 million ha.

The change came as much of the eastern states battled dry conditions and reduced production prospects, putting focus on whether a bigger WA oilseed crop could help offset what was expected to be lower tonnages nationally later in the year.

The latest Grain Industry Association of Western Australia crop report estimated total crop area at 9.383 million ha, including 3.725 million ha of wheat, 2.28 million ha of canola and 2.165 million ha of barley.

Oats were forecast at 560,000ha, lupins at 550,000ha and pulses at 103,000ha.

The Kwinana zone remained the state’s largest cropping region with 4.564 million ha planted, followed by Albany on 2.058 million ha, Geraldton on 2.011 million ha and Esperance on 750,000ha.

Early rain through the grain belt allowed growers to push hard through April and early May, with many crops planted into moisture weeks earlier than normal.

Wheat now accounts for about 40 per cent of WA cropped area, down from 59.2 per cent in 2016, as growers continue moving towards barley and canola.

Kondinin grower Regan Ashley said the economics behind the rotation shift had become hard to ignore.

“If we look at the returns, canola is the largest in terms of returns, barley is the next one and wheat sits down there in third,” Mr Ashley said.

“We have increased the canola and we have dramatically increased the barley planting this year.”

Mr Ashley said improved barley varieties requiring less nitrogen had also helped with the change as growers worked to manage input costs.

“The varieties of barley we have now, Combat and Neo, are lower nitrogen requiring to get peak yield with that high return,” he said.

“We have to maximise every dollar we can.”

Mr Ashley said he was about 65 per cent of the way through sowing and he was hoping a rain front forecast for early next week would help newly-planted crops.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development climate research officer Ian Foster said climate models were pointing towards below-average winter and spring rainfall across much of the WA grain belt, with warmer-than-average conditions also forecast through spring.

“Models are forecasting both above average minimum temperatures and maximum temperatures in the spring this year,” Mr Foster said.