January 12, 2009
Australia's New South Wales grains harvest ends; output up
A harvest of winter grains, including wheat, in Australia's New South Wales has ended, with production well up on last year, the state's Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said Sunday (January 11).
Production in the state is estimated at 9.03 million tonnes, a significant increase on the year-earlier figure, he said in a statement without providing a breakdown of data, such as wheat output.
The figure is the same as estimated December 9 by the federal Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, which estimated new crop wheat output in the state at 6.5 million tonnes, up from an actual 1.8 million tonnes for the previous crop, and new crop barley output at 1.5 million tonnes, up from 650,000 tonnes in the year-earlier period.
McDonald, commenting while issuing a drought statement, said that good rains fell across most of the state in December, which was good news for farmers.
The increased harvest, the best since 2005 as crops in 2006 and 2007 were badly affected by drought, helped exports of bulk wheat from east coast ports to start again.
McDonald said recent warmer weather has increased the activity of plague locusts, which remain a significant issue for farmers in parts of the west-central and southern regions of the state.
