Harvest hopes hinge on weather

Three weeks of above-average temperatures have offset a damp spring, with poppy and grass seed growers expected to benefit most from the balmy conditions, agronomist James Burbury said.

Bureau of Meteorology statistics show northern areas were 0.5 degrees warmer than long-term averages in January, which meant rainfall was at a premium.

"If we hadn't had this hot patch we wouldn't have been able to get the onions to mature," Mr Burbury said.

He said the main bulk of the poppy crop, which was planted a month late in November because of wet conditions in late spring, would benefit from a further two weeks of heat before harvest.

"It's not going to be a bumper crop by any means but some of the guys have done well considering," he said.

Grass seed has exceeded expectations, with most annuals yielding 2.5 tonnes per hectare and other perennials reaching up to 4t/ha.

Onions planted in August/September were "responding well to the heat", Mr Burbury said, but pea processors across the State could be searching for up to 5000t of the vegetable.

"They've been absolutely terrible across the board," he said.

Scottsdale producer and Simplot potato grower group head Trevor Hall said north-east Tasmania's terribly wet winter had dried up "like concrete" recently, making it difficult for potatoes to thrive naturally.

"Everything is very dry, all the crops are very irrigation heavy," he said.

He said potatoes, which will be harvested in late March-early April would be ok, but his fuel and electricity bill wouldn't.

"Spuds tend to shut down when it gets to 25 (degrees Celcius)," he said.

Further south Sheffield potato grower Nigel Long said farmers were "chasing their tails", but suggested a decent spell of weather around harvest time could prove pivotal.

"We lost a few spuds during the wet in August, but we've caught up now," he said.