February 22, 2007

Australia's crop production to hit 20-year low

The drought would slash Australia's summer crop production to its lowest level in 20 years.

The federal government's rural economic forecaster, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE) expects the crop production to fall 60 percent to 1.9 million tonnes, because of the ongoing drought that has continued to affect cropping areas in northern New South Wales and Queensland.

The forecast makes it the smallest summer crop in more than 20 years.

Water-intensive crops such as rice and cotton have been particularly hard hit.

The report said wheat production is estimated to have fallen 61 percent to 9.8 million tonnes, barley by 62 percent to 3.7 million tonnes and canola down 64 percent to 513,000 tonnes.