For most farmers across the east coast, Christmas came early this year.
The build-up to this year's crop was highly anticipated and, so far, it hasn't disappointed.
Grain continues to fly into bulk handlers and on-farm storages at rapid rates, with most growers hoping to be finished harvest by Christmas.
While grain yields so far have come in better than expected, commodity pricing is beginning to show some cracks.
With the east coast harvest not yet over, and grower selling still strong, these cracks might get longer and wider.
As grain flowed into the bins during December, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) decided to drop a mammoth 32 million tonne wheat crop estimate on the Australian market.
It was fair to say that this figure was a surprise to the local industry - and the news traveled loud and strong through social media wires overseas.
Since the estimate was released, we have seen a significant drop in Chicago Futures.
This is partly due to both the increased ABARES wheat figure, and China slowing its purchasing of US agricultural products.
Prices coming into this harvest had been strong, and that was with an estimated 29 million tonne Australian wheat crop.
But rumours of China's lack of interest in Australian wheat retraced the market quickly.
Russian dryness going into its dormancy period was the talk of the market. But lately that has gone quiet.
When Russian wheat comes out of the winter dormancy, that will more than likely define our pricing going forward.
As the Black Sea region is the biggest wheat exporter in the world, it will be our main competition moving forward - and define pricing as we move into 2021.
The challenge for farmers and industry for the coming months is how we physically shift the vast amounts of grain that have been produced across Australia's cropping belts.
There is ample export demand into traditional and non-traditional destinations to allow us to do this, but it is time that is working against us.
With a sizable inverse in the Northern Hemisphere markets - most notably in the Black Sea region - the challenge is to price these commodities and get them to market prior to the new crop supply in mid-2021.
Export supply chains have been - and will continue to be - stretched during this period.
The question for growers should be how we approach selling this massive crop moving forward.
Harvest pressure has been building on wheat and barley for the past couple of weeks, and both are feeling the heat.
Although both have fallen considerably, the gross margin is still stacking-up for growers to sell.
This may mean there could be more pain to come until the new year.
The good news is that we are already competitive in global markets for both wheat and barley.
The bad news is that it doesn't mean the market won't fall further.
With a little more than two weeks until Christmas, let's hope there are only bullish pricing stories to come.
