That is according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences latest crop report, which said summer crop production is expected to fall by 66 per cent to 878 000 tonnes.
ABARES acting executive director Peter Gooday said this was an extremely trying time for many crop growers, especially those in NSW and Queensland.
“Summer crop prospects were adversely affected by unfavourable seasonal conditions in December that further depleted soil moisture levels to well below average in most summer cropping regions and to record lows in some others,” Mr Gooday said.
“With the planting of summer crops in Queensland and northern NSW now largely complete, we expect planted area and production to be lower than our forecasts of December 2019.
“This largely reflects seasonal conditions in December that were more unfavourable than expected.”
Cotton production is forecast to fall by 72 per cent to around 135 000 tonnes of lint and 191 000 tonnes of seed, while grain sorghum production is expected to be down by 77 per cent to about 292 000 tonnes.
Rice production will remain low around 54 000 tonnes, due to low water allocations and high water prices.
The dramatic falls in production correlate with the reduction in plantings during the summer cropping period.
Area planted to grain sorghum is estimated to have decreased by 71 per cent in 2019–20 to 143 000 ha, while the area planted to cotton is forecast to fall by 82 per cent to 61 000 ha — the lowest cotton planting since 1978-79.
In terms of the winter crop harvest, Australian winter crop production is estimated to have decreased by five per cent in 2019-20 to just under 29 million tonnes, with wheat production estimated to have fallen by 12 per cent to 15.2 million tonnes, barley production to have increased by seven per cent to 8.9 million tonnes and canola production is on track to increase by seven per cent to 2.3 million tonnes.
Among other crops, chickpea production is estimated to have remained largely unchanged at 281 000 tonnes and oats production is estimated to have increased by one per cent to 900 000 tonnes.
To read the full report, visit: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/agricultural-commodities/australian-crop-report
