As we see off the month of June and - for most croppers - the end of sowing, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) reports that last month produced above average to very much above average rainfall for a big part of the NSW grainbelt.
Undoubtedly, there are some areas that would appreciate a moisture top-up.
But the general consensus is that a few days of dry weather would be a welcome break.
This may eventuate as a high pressure system starts to dominate over the state towards the middle of the month.
Around the rest of the country, Queensland's crop areas are looking reasonable; Victoria and South Australia received some welcome rainfall during June; and Western Australian crops are ticking along nicely.
There has been plenty of discussion about the WA crop and just how good the start to the winter season has been in that state.
Last week's key news event was the release of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Stocks and Acreage report.
It caught the market off guard and led to all futures exchanges rallying higher.
The big surprise was the report's estimate of US corn planted area at 92.7 million acres, which was well below market expectations of 93.8 million acres.
This contributed to the US corn futures closing limit up, and most other grains and oilseeds following the charge higher.
US soybean planted acres also came in below expectations, which supported that market.
There is certainly very little room for error in these two commodities this year, as conditions are currently not pointing to the yields the USDA has in its figures to solve the SnD.
Wheat had its own challenges, given stocks were lower than anticipated and acre area was higher.
Perhaps confused by those two factors, wheat looked to corn and beans and rallied in sympathy.
The big rally in futures late last week had local cash markets falter for a day as the trade sought to establish fair value, which is not uncommon after such a large overseas move.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the old crop markets barely moved a whisker - as there appears to be ample cover on by the domestic consumer across the east coast, and most people are focused on execution.
Despite a couple of small blips, old crop feed barley has traded at the $5 per tonne to $10/t range in the Port Kembla zone for weeks now, and has hovered around $280/t delivered port.
The trade is focusing on executing stocks held in the system and the bulk of the unsold old crop stocks being held on-farm.
So, the question remains as to how much will be carried through into new crop.
When it comes to the new crop, wheat basis came under significant pressure as the move in futures outstripped what was reflected in cash markets here due to confidence building in the size of the NSW crop.
Grower engagement on new crop wheat has been consistent as conditions generally continue to improve across the grainbelt and, understandably, the grower has been less interested in selling new crop barley.
Canola is unquestionably the standout, and prices across the country have spent most - if not all - of the past month or so in the decile 10 price range.
