Australia: Crop production worst in 20 years

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.

The Age