Dire outlook for Australian summer crops, report shows

Cool weather is shortening harvest days for cotton growers in the Riverina, with national production expected to plunge.

Cotton drop: Production is estimated to have decreased dramatically by 72 per cent in 2019–20, says ABARES.

COTTON harvest is nearing an end in the Riverina, but cooler weather is cutting picking days short.

Rain over the weekend held up harvest, Cotton Australia chief executive officer Adam Kay said, which is about 90 per cent complete in the area.

“It was a late start and there have been low picking hours compared to previous years as growers wait for dew to dry off in the morning,” Mr Kay said.

Yields are expected to come in average to below average this year, Mr Kay said, while Australia’s overall production would be a “mixed bag.”

“It’s not an exceptional season,” he said.

“We are expecting yields to come in at just 600,000 bales.

“We had a cool start and a hot December and January but rain and cooler days in February slowed things down and took away from yields.”

But recent rain is anticipated to boost yields next season, with Mr Kay predicting production to hit 1.7 million bales.

“The bulk of that is expected to come out of Queensland as that is where the rain hit,” he said. “A bit of rain also hit dams in NSW.”

However, bigger rains are needed to further boost dams, he said.

“The Bureau of Meteorology was predicting above average rains for winter, but that has backed off a bit to average now,” Mr Kay said.

“That is a bit disappointing as we need rain to run water into dams.”

Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics has forecast total summer crop production for 2019-20 to drop a massive 62 per cent to 885,000 tonnes driven by “significant” falls in grain sorghum and cotton production.

Production of grain sorghum is estimated to have fallen by 74 per cent to 298,000 tonnes with average yields predicted at 2.1 tonnes a hectare.

This is 29 per cent below the 10-year average to 2018–19.

For cotton, production is estimated to have decreased dramatically by 72 per cent in 2019–20 to 134,000 tonnes of lint and 189,000 tonnes of seed. That is the result of low supplies of irrigation water.

MORE: AUSTRALIAN WHEAT PRODUCTION CONTINUES TO IMPROVE

CROPS OFF TO A PERFECT START

And the area planted to cotton is forecast to plummet 83 per cent to 60,000 hectares — the lowest since 1978–79. Rice is also showing hefty drops, with production predicted to be about 57,000 tonnes.

The volumes are the lowest since 2007–08, ABARES found, due to low water allocations and high water prices.