SOUTHERN Australia is set to reap rich rewards from this year's grains harvest as farmers begin to strip their crops.

Optimism is running high, with many of the major cropping areas of Victoria and southern NSW experiencing their best season in years.

The anticipation is spilling over into business, with more headers being sold and land prices jumping.

According to Agriview sales figures, 313 combine harvesters were delivered in Australia for the September quarter, the best quarterly result since 1983.

Recent land sales in the Mallee, of more than $1300/ha, have been close to record levels.

Not all areas have fared well. Parts of the Riverina are struggling and some farmers there will not strip crops at all.

But others will this year harvest at least average crops, and many will do a lot better.

The only cloud on the horizon is prices, with some early offers $100 a tonne less than last year, but even this is being tempered by the prospect of a bumper, busy harvest.

Victorian Department of Primary Industries agronomist Rob Sonogan said there was a feeling of optimism among growers as the first headers hit the paddocks.

"There are parts of the Mallee which will have half average yields, and then other areas will be average or above," he said.

"The southern area of the Mallee and further south than that is fantastic," Mr Sonogan said.

Even the softening grain prices have not dimmed the increased optimism reflected in the recent sale of farms.

"We've had almost record land prices paid in the past couple of weeks of $540/acre ($1300/ha) for 2t/ha, lighter soil country, and that's good money," Mr Sonogan said.

He said news of rain in southern Queensland and northern NSW meant increased sorghum plantings, and this would impact on prices for lower-grade grains.

But farmers now had the ability and the mindset to not sell all their grain at harvest.

"It's good that banks now seem to have the understanding that it is not necessarily a good idea to sell at harvest, when prices can be at their lowest," Mr Sonogan said.

"Banks can see that grain in the silo is effectively cash in the bank and this gives the farmer the ability to market their crop in a more timely manner."

Fellow DPI agronomist and grains project manager for the Wimmera, Chris Sounness, said it was "all looking good".

With the Wimmera harvest only a couple of weeks away, Mr Sounness said farmers were hoping for a good return.

"We will see the biggest production in years and that's partly due to the extra area that people have been putting in," he said.

The DPI has predicted Victorian paddocks will yield nine million tonnes of grain, headed up by more than four million tonnes of wheat, the biggest yield since 2000-01.

They are also punting on three million tonnes of barley, the biggest crop since 2003-04, and 410,000 tonnes of canola, the highest tonnage since 2000-01.

Mr Sounness said the variable weather in the past few weeks had impacted on northern crops. "While some crops in the north were damaged by hot weather in September, the expansion of cropping in the south has contributed to the potentially high yielding result," he said.

Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Russell Amery said the best thing about this harvest was that "there will be one".

"Sadly the prices are not there and that's really disappointing," he said. "I talked to one grower who will have double the yield this year, but his overall income will be less.

"The message from this year is that we've got the grain and we are fairly happy with that, but we are disappointed with the prices we are being offered."

Mr Amery said some farmers would cash in grain to pay bills but just as many would hold on until prices improved.

While Victoria gets ready to celebrate, farmers in parts of the Riverina will struggle to get any yields at all.

NSW Farmers Association grains chairman Mark Hoskinson said there were isolated strips in the Riverina which had received storms but many growers were facing a double whammy of low yields and low prices.

"Some growers are being offered as low as $100 a tonne for barley and $190 for wheat and that's below the cost of production," he said.