LACK of rainfall in NSW and Queensland has prompted the nation's commodity forecaster to predict a 10-per-cent drop in summer crop plantings.
Areas planted to grain sorghum will total 637,000ha, compared to 754,000ha last season, the latest crop report from the Australian Bureau of Agriculture Resource Economics (ABARE) shows.But rice plantings are expected to more than double from 8000ha to 18,600ha due to the increased availability of irrigation water.
Cotton crop plantings are also expected to increase by 24 per cent to 203,000ha, even though irrigation water remains a problem in most cotton regions around the nation.
Winter crop production is expected to be higher than 2008-09 but below ABARE's September 2009 forecast.
"Conditions deteriorated over spring in Western Australia, Queensland and, in particular, central west and southern New South Wales,'' ABARE spokesman Terry Sheales said.
Winter crop production in NSW has been revised down significantly from earlier forecasts, partly offset by improved growing conditions in South Australia and Victoria.
The final size of the winter crop is expected to be at 35.7 million tonnes, an increase of 6 per cent from 2008-09.
