SYDNEY (AFP) -- Drought could wipe out Australia's wheat crop despite expectations that the country's worst dry spell for a century was easing, Trade Minister Warren Truss warned Tuesday."In many parts of Australia there has been some relief and a quite large wheat crop was planted," he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney."It's disappointing to hear reports now that the crop is deteriorating especially in New South Wales and parts of Victoria."
SYDNEY (AFP) -- Drought could wipe out Australia's wheat crop despite expectations that the country's worst dry spell for a century was easing, Trade Minister Warren Truss warned Tuesday.
"In many parts of Australia there has been some relief and a quite large wheat crop was planted," he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney.
"It's disappointing to hear reports now that the crop is deteriorating especially in New South Wales and parts of Victoria."
And in Western Australia:
Hot winds severely damage Australian wheat | World | Reuters
PERTH (Reuters) - Hot winds this week caused severe damage to the Western Australian wheat crop, further reducing the country's already struggling crop, Western Australia's Agriculture Minister said late on Tuesday. In an interview with Reuters, Minister Kim Chance said bad weather was likely to wipe up to 2 million tonnes from the national wheat crop. "The hot, windy day this week caused huge damage so we saw a number of crops written down on Monday on the basis of one day's wind in Western Australia," Chance said. "Our total wheat crop could be about 1 or 2 million tonnes lower than the lowest end of the projections made so far," the state Minister of Agriculture and Food told Reuters. Australia's wheat crop nationwide has been hit with extremely dry conditions throughout August, particularly in the past two weeks, analysts said on Wednesday. This has reduced almost all forecasts of the wheat crop to less than 20 million tonnes, Ron Storey, head of private forecaster Australian Wheat Forecasters, said. ACF this week reduced its forecast to 19.5 million tonnes and even this was at the upper end of the range of forecasts, he said. Other trade forecasts were for a crop of 18 million tonnes or even less<...> Australia's last wheat crop, for the year to March 2007, was decimated by drought, falling to 9.8 million tonnes from 25.4 million tonnes the year before.
PERTH (Reuters) - Hot winds this week caused severe damage to the Western Australian wheat crop, further reducing the country's already struggling crop, Western Australia's Agriculture Minister said late on Tuesday.
In an interview with Reuters, Minister Kim Chance said bad weather was likely to wipe up to 2 million tonnes from the national wheat crop.
"The hot, windy day this week caused huge damage so we saw a number of crops written down on Monday on the basis of one day's wind in Western Australia," Chance said.
"Our total wheat crop could be about 1 or 2 million tonnes lower than the lowest end of the projections made so far," the state Minister of Agriculture and Food told Reuters.
Australia's wheat crop nationwide has been hit with extremely dry conditions throughout August, particularly in the past two weeks, analysts said on Wednesday.
This has reduced almost all forecasts of the wheat crop to less than 20 million tonnes, Ron Storey, head of private forecaster Australian Wheat Forecasters, said.
ACF this week reduced its forecast to 19.5 million tonnes and even this was at the upper end of the range of forecasts, he said.
Other trade forecasts were for a crop of 18 million tonnes or even less<...>
Australia's last wheat crop, for the year to March 2007, was decimated by drought, falling to 9.8 million tonnes from 25.4 million tonnes the year before.
So there seems to be some evidence Australia will not produce the usual amount (around 25 million tonnes) of wheat this year, with a shortfall of perhaps 7 m tonnes.
I'm not certain where we're at with this summer's crop from the northern hemisphere. In this exchange from Monday's Salon, Magnifico and asdf told us the US had a bumper crop. OTOH, this is the news from Canada, where drought has caused problems:
Brownfield Network: Stats Canada sees decline in wheat crop
The total Canadian wheat crop for 2007 is pegged at 20.322 million tons, as of July 31. That's down 19.6% from the 2006 figure of 25.265 million tons.
The EU's harvest is not all that good, and Russia has been talking about restricting exports because of a poor harvest.
All this comes on the back of a very bad 2006. So there would appear to be some objective reasons for high prices.
There's also speculation of two kinds: from market players, and from "hoarders". By the last I mean that grain merchants and farmers are hanging on to what stocks they have in hope of pulling in a bumper price. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
It has been a long 6 years... and I trust very little. Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena.
This is not enough to make me an expert, but here's my report.
The agriculture system on planet earth is in BIG trouble. Yes, yields have increased from around 35 to 225 bushels of corn per acre in my lifetime but these gains have come at horrific costs in soil erosion, depleted aquifers, the dead zone off Louisiana, etc. The idea that there is another six-fold productivity increase using any imaginable methods is insane.
THEN there is the ruination of PRIME agricultural land for shitbox housing. We are some of the most guilty people on earth around here.
THEN we have built only god knows how many oversized ethanol plants. I recently heard a guy say that we have already committed the corn crops of Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska to running our cars.
Save your skepticism for subjects MUCH more likely to need it. "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
But I also said there are people, one way or another, playing the market. That may include banging the media drum. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
Just keep in mind that there are REAL and VERY serious problems with agriculture. NO ONE is faking those. In fact, they will be ignored. As long as the speculators make money, the turmoil in agriculture will not be considered a serious problem in our pig-ignorant media. "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
