Drought seriously slashes Australian wheat crop*

by Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) Oct 30, 2007

Australia's wheat, barley and canola winter crops were again revised
lower Tuesday due to the severity of the long-running drought, the
country's official forecaster said.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said the
winter wheat crop for 2007/08 would drop from the September estimate of
15.5 million tonnes to 12.1 tonnes due to a lack of drenching rains.

Barley would fall from a projected 5.9 million tonnes to 5.0 million
tonnes and canola drop from 1.1 million tonnes to 900,000 tonnes, it said.

The bureau said rainfall during the crucial September to October period
had been well below average in the country's main grain-growing regions,
with some areas of New South Wales recording their lowest ever levels
for those months.

"This lack of rainfall, combined with hotter than average daytime
temperatures and strong winds, has led to the rapid deterioration of
crop yield potential and in many areas has resulted in total crop
failure," ABARE executive director Phillip Glyde said.

The three major crops of wheat, barley and canola will amount to 18.0
million tonnes for the year -- about 42 percent below the five-year
average but still 4.0 million tonnes above the previous year's output,
the bureau said.

ABARE said poor pasture growth and high feedgrain prices had also forced
farmers battling the worst drought in a century to continue to reduce
stock numbers.

But the bureau said the outlook for summer crop production was
promising, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology suggesting
above-average rainfall is likely for some farming regions.