Fed: Wheat harvest set to be one of biggest on records
CANBERRA, Feb 19 AAP - The nation's wheat farmers will bring in one of the biggestharvests on record thanks to drought-breaking rains, Australia's agricultural forecastersaid today.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), in its latestcrop report, said the wheat harvest would increase seven per cent to 23.8 million tonnes.
It is a marked turnaround after ABARE warned last year that drought conditions in Queenslandand Western Australia would push the nation's biggest crop down to almost 20 million tonnes.
ABARE said rain in the middle of last year ensured a huge increase of 1.4 million tonnesin the WA wheat crop.
"Good finishing rains saved Western Australia grain crops from early season expectationsof the winter crop being the lowest in more than a decade," ABARE said.
South Australia has brought in the nation's biggest crop, improving 21 per cent onlast year's record crop to hit 8.7 million tonnes.
ABARE said the crop was so large in SA that it created grain handling and storage problems.
The good season meant that some farmers enjoyed their best yields ever.
Both states helped offset an eight per cent fall in the NSW wheat crop which droppedto 7.25 million tonnes even though farmers increased their plantings.
The drop was even larger in Queensland where dry conditions pushed the wheat crop downto 840,000 tonnes, a 16 per cent fall.
AAP sw/cjh/sb
KEYWORD: ABARE WHEAT
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