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WA wheatbelt plans for more rainy days
25 Jun 2004
Most grain farmers in Western Australia's wheatbelt areas have been sowing their winter crops into damp fields over the past month. Good rains over the past month have led to tentative forecasts of another solid year for WA farmers.
ABARE is tipping a winter crop of about 13.1 million tonnes for this year from 7.29 million hectares of planting, down from 15.6 million tonnes from 7.48 million hectares in 2003. In 2002, a small crop of 6.8 million tonnes came from 7.1 million hectares.
ABARE and the Bureau of Meteorology are reasonably optimistic, saying the probability of the rain exceeding median rainfall across most cropping areas is between 60 per cent and 70 per cent.
At the beginning of June there was a 60 per cent chance of exceeding median yields for the northern and south-eastern wheat growing regions of WA. But parts of WA's eastern cropping region had less than a 40 per cent chance of exceeding median yield. Co-operative Bulk Handling has given an early, rough forecast of 12 million tonnes, which includes about 9 million tonnes of wheat. A clearer picture will emerge in August when CBH gives a detailed forecast for the 2004 crop.
Australian Financial Review, 24/6/04.
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