SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australia’s biggest listed bulk grain handler, GrainCorp Ltd., has reported a larger-than-expected half-yearly loss as severe drought withers crops in one of the world’s top exporters of commodities such as wheat. The firm also cut its dividend as it grapples with the fallout from the driest conditions in a century with […] Read more
Tag Archives Australia
Dry conditions to curb Australia’s wheat crop for 3rd year – forecaster
SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Dry conditions for up to six months in parts of Australia’s east coast are set to curb wheat crop yields for a third straight year in the world’s No.4 exporter of the grain, a private U.S.-based weather forecaster said on Wednesday. Australia has been grappling with successive years of drought that have […] Read more
Cattle death toll soars in Australian flooding
Hundreds of thousands of cattle are dead after floods left parts of eastern Australian under water, swallowing up livestock and farm buildings. Overhead photos taken from helicopters flying over Queensland show the intensity of the disaster as large numbers of cattle lie dead in groups. One farm alone says it has lost thousands of cattle […] Read more
Australian farmers running out of time
Drought-hit producers slaughtered 659,000 head of cattle in June, the highest monthly figure in three years
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Danny Stork, a livestock farmer in Glen Oak, 180 kilometres north of Sydney, has 20 bales of hay left for his 100 head of cattle. He is now feeding them light rations in the hope the winter drought breaks. If it doesn’t, and weather forecasts suggest it won’t, he will run […] Read more
Australia’s wheat crop forecast falls to 20.3 million tonnes
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Australia’s 2017-18 wheat crop forecast has been lowered, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said, after recent storms damaged the crop and following a severe drought earlier in the season that reduced yields. The world’s fourth largest wheat exporter is forecast to produce 20.3 million tonnes of wheat […] Read more
Carbon tax Down Under went under
This is the final instalment examining the issues surrounding carbon pricing, greenhouse gas emissions and how farmers can do their share without having to pay more than their fair share to do it.
Some Australian farmers saw their costs rise as new taxes shifted money from producers and processors to carbon reduction projects across that continent. However, a change in government put a stop to all that. Half a dozen years ago, a Labour government in Australia brought in an ambitious program that quantified greenhouse gas emissions from […] Read more
Australian state has ‘desperately dry’ weather
An emerging drought in Western Australia could reduce wheat and canola production in that state. The western portion of the state has experienced “serious and severe rainfall deficiencies” during the fall months of March to May, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Large portions of the state have received rain that is in the […] Read more
Frost, hail, lack of rain drain Australia’s output
Optimism fades | Most states suffered weather and disease issues but Western Australia is the ‘shining light’
Australia’s crops keep getting smaller. Rural Bank, a major Australian farm lender, has released its production estimates for the country’s major crops. The bank forecasts 23.3 million tonnes of wheat, 7.27 million tonnes of barley and 3.43 million tonnes of canola. The wheat forecast is 932,000 tonnes below the Australian government’s September estimate, and the […] Read more
El Nino could slash eastern Australian winter crop production
Drought looming? | Analyst looks at cooling trend in Indian Ocean
Australia’s winter crops are off to a terrific start, but the finish will depend on weather conditions, which look dicey for the east and encouraging for the western part of the country. Nick Goddard, executive director of the Australian Oilseeds Federation, said good rain and unusually warm weather combined to create ideal seeding conditions. “In […] Read more
Wheat farming in crisis in Western Australia
Australia grows five percent of the world’s wheat crop but provides 12 to 15 percent of the wheat annually traded on the global market. Western Australia, on 12 million acres, grows 80 percent of the wheat exported by Australia and many wheat farmers in the state are in big trouble. Several poor seasons, increases in […] Read more
