Dry winter has reduced crop yields in Australia. (photo by Sydney Morning Herald)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, May was the third driest month in Australia's history, another blow to bleak Australian farmers and the end of this winter's planting season.
Rabobank (Rabobank) reported Friday that crop cultivation will reach 21.6 million hectares in the winter, down 2 percent from the previous year. But in Kunzhou and New York, the decline was even more severe, by 11 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
The Meteorological Bureau (Bureau of Meteorology) also noted that rainfall in Kunzhou in May was 83 percent lower than the long-term average and 75 percent lower in the new state. Southern Australia usually receives 25-30 millimetres of rain each fall, and local farmers who expect the rain to start planting have missed the effective rainfall in May. Abnormal warm weather has caused low soil moisture levels.
The dominant high pressure system continues to push the rain-producing cold front southward, and the weather pattern also makes the regional precipitation hopeless. Much of Australia is expected to experience warmer and drier winters than usual, especially in the southeastern states, the Meteorological Service predicts.
Rabobank said the impact of the weather on key crops was not clear, but expected wheat production to range from 1800 to 28 million tons and the entire winter crop yield range from 2800 to 44 million tons. The biggest impact on agricultural commodities is likely to be on exports. In 2018 / 19, rapeseed oil exports are expected to fall 40 percent from a year earlier, while wheat is expected to fall 3 percent to 15.5 million tons. That would be a nine-year low for Australia's wheat exports.
On the other hand, thanks to precipitation in April and May, South Australia and Victoria were slightly better off than elsewhere. Even so, the drought between the two places should not be underestimated. In southern Australia, the second driest autumn in history this year, rainfall was only a little better than during the worst federal drought of (Federation Drought) in 1902.
Braganza (Karl Braganza), director of climate monitoring at the Meteorological Bureau, said long-term climate patterns had changed as the storm path turned. For western Australia, the trend is reflected in winter precipitation, he said, while in southeastern Australia, the trend is concentrated in late autumn and early winter.
In addition, Australia's government's March 2018 Quarterly Agricultural Trade Outlook said prices for some agricultural products would rise, helping to offset the impact of the decline in trading volume.