October 15, 2009

Some West Australian winter crop best in "living memory"

Some winter crops in Western Australia state - which usually accounts for about 40 percent of national wheat output - are the best in decades, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said Wednesday (October 14).

"If you go to Western Australia at the moment, there are areas I visited a couple of weeks ago that are looking at having the best crops in living memory," he said in an interview on ABC radio.

Given that, it is difficult to imagine being at a point when Australia might have to import grains, he said in an interview that focussed on global food shortages and climate change. Burke didn't elaborate on his comments about winter grains production.

Last week, Western Australia's Department of Food and Agriculture upgraded its estimate of winter crop production to between 12.5 million and 14.0 million tonnes, including wheat output in a range of 9.0 million to 10.5 million tonnes.

The state's monopoly grain storage provider Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd.'s current estimate for winter grains production is between 11.0 million-12.5 million tonnes, suggesting a range for wheat of 7.7 million-8.8 million tonnes.

The federal government's Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics' latest forecast, issued Sept. 15, for national wheat production in the crop year that began April 1 of 22.7 million tonnes includes an estimate for Western Australia of 8.74 million tonnes, if achieved down from last crop year's actual 8.92 million tonnes.