Western Australia delays crop sowing on dry weather

Dry weather is gaining traction as a threat to crops in Western Australia, the country's biggest grain and canola state, with officials warning that many fields will be left fallow if rains do not imminently appear.

 

The warning came as Argentina, the southern hemisphere's other big wheat producer, said sowings of its 2010-11 crop had been hampered by too much rain.

 

The Western Australia government said in a report that a lack of rain had prevented some farmers from starting sowings, and may force them to sit out the season.

 

"If good rains are not received in early June, fallow will be a favoured option for marginal paddocks," the briefing said.

 

Even those farms, the majority of the grainbelt, which had received enough rainfall to start plantings were not out of the woods yet.

 

"Most areas have low subsoil moisture reserves, so follow-up rainfall in early June will be required."

 

Crop estimates for the 2010-11 will be tempered by the delayed and patchy start to the season, the briefing added, singling out canola as likely to suffer from a switch to alternative crops.

 

With the rapeseed variant less drought resistant, growers may opt for "safer alternatives in a number of areas", the report said, raising questions over the strong growth expected for Australian canola, of which more than half is grown in Western Australia.

 

The Australian Oilseeds Federation has forecast a 19% jump to 2.27 million tonnes in the country's 2010-11 canola harvest.

 

The dry weather warning comes as rains are holding back canola sowings in Canada. Analysts expect that one to two million acres of canola could go unplanted across Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

 

Rains are also proving an issue in Argentina, delaying the tailend of corn and soy harvests, but sowing of a wheat crop expected to mark the re-emergence of the country as a force in the grain.

 

Lorenzo Basso, the country's agriculture minister, on Monday (Jun 7) pegged the 2010-11 harvest at 11.0 million tonnes, a jump of nearly 50% on-year.

 

Sowings last year fell to their lowest for more than a century, hit by drought, and by price weakness blamed on government export curbs, which were relaxed last week.