Big Dry No Bar To Wheat's Appeal

The Age

Thursday December 1, 2005

MELISSA MARINO REGIONAL AFFAIRS REPORTER

DESPITE years of drought and concerns about the long-term productivity of marginal land, Australian farmers last year planted more wheat than ever before, latest figures show.

The area of wheat planted in Australia's cropping regions increased 75 per cent in the decade to 2004-05 to 13.8 million hectares. The previous high was 12.8 million hectares in 1984, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' principal agricultural commodities report says.

Victorian farmers sowed 65 per cent more wheat last financial year than a decade ago, bringing the total area sown to 1.4 million hectares.

The bureau's agricultural statistics manager, Nigel Gibson, said the increase was probably due to an expectation of the drought ending and a shift to bigger properties and more-efficient machinery.

Victorian Farmers Federation grains president Ian Hastings said the increase was also a reflection of farmers playing catch-up, where in times of low prices they would try to increase income by planting out another paddock.

But the optimism at planting did not translate into bigger yields, with the report showing a drop in wheat production of 13 per cent to 22.6 million tonnes in 2004-05 compared with the year before. In Victoria the fall was 38 per cent, to 1.2 million tonnes.

However, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics this week predicted one of the best winter crops in a decade.

In recent years, the area of barley sown increased, taking the rise over the decade to 87 per cent across Australia, up to 4.6 million hectares.

Plantings of canola and cotton increased in 2004-05, but oats and rice fell. In another sign that farmers are recovering from the drought, sheep and cattle numbers rose last year.

© 2005 The Age

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