Australia's Summer Crop Production To Date Worst In 20 Years - Age

[hatrack]

The drought will slash Australia's summer crop production to its lowest level in more than 20 years. After running a scythe through the winter grain harvest, the big dry is set to take a huge toll on water-intensive summer crops like cotton and rice.

The federal government's rural economic forecaster, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) says 2006-07 summer crop production will fall 59 per cent to 1.9 million tonnes - the smallest haul since 1982-83. Rice production will plummet 90 per cent to just 106,000 tonnes, and cotton production will be down 42 per cent at 250,000 tonnes. ABARE is tipping grain sorghum production to fall 51 per cent to 996,000 tonnes.

Severe cuts to water allocations were taking a toll on Australia's thirsty cotton and rice sectors, ABARE said. "In both industries, growers have been abandoning parts of their crops and using their reduced water allocations on smaller areas in an effort to maximise returns from the remaining crops," ABARE's quarterly crop report said.

The lack of irrigation water for rice has cut plantings to 12,000 hectares - down 89 per cent on last year. The area sown to cotton is down 57 per cent from 2005-06 at 143,000 hectares, the smallest planting since 1983-84. Grain sorghum will be hit hard by the drought, with the total area planted expected to fall by half to an estimated 427,000 hectares.

EDIT

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/crop-production-worst-in-20-years/2007/02/20/1171733730091.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Why are they growing rice in the first place - in a country that is

mostly arid if not downright desert???????

Enquiring minds want to know.

Oh, it's OZ. Where there IS no GW. That explains it.