2020 vision
Australian farms will produce roughly 1 million tonnes less of grains in 2019–2020 – a 3 per cent fall to 29.24 million tonnes following an unexpectedly hot and dry spring, according to the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resources Economics and Sciences (ABARES).
Released in December, the Australian Crop Report forecast is 13 per cent down from the Bureau’s production forecast in September 2019 – reflecting bad news for Australia’s winter crops.
ABARES acting executive director Peter Gooday says bad spring weather in Western Australia and southern New South Wales was behind the fall, which is the third consecutive year the total volume of agricultural production has fallen – a trend which has not occurred for more than 60 years.
“[Total] forecast winter production is around 27 per cent below the 10-year average to 2018–19 and is set to fall for the third consecutive year since record-high production was achieved in 2016–17,” Gooday says.
“High fodder prices and unfavourable seasonal conditions caused some crops planted for grains and oilseeds production to be cut for hay in
