Prolonged drought has combined with damaging frosts to put Australia on track for the smallest winter crop of the past decade.
The yield forecast from Rabobank, released today, is a timely reminder for the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s drought summit which will be held in Canberra on Friday.
The summit coincides with another federal initiative, the Regional Drought Communities Small Grants Program. Applications open on Friday for local initiatives to share a pool of $15 million for grassroots projects to boost small town economies.
Rabobank’s Australian 2018-19 winter crop outlook is one instance of the long terms drought impacts that will hit farmers, agribusinesses and regional economies.
The national harvest is expected to be just 29.3 million tonnes, down 23 per cent on the previous year.
Mr Morrison said the drought summit was convened to better coordinate short term assistance measures and long term policy reform.
He said the summit would bring national leaders, key people and organisations together at the same table.
“We will look at actions to deliver assistance, cut red tape and tackle gaps that need addressing,” he said.
“We need to act and respond to the immediate issues while we are putting in place better frameworks for long-term preparedness and resilience.”
The drought community grants was designed to quickly roll out funding for local projects across the country.
Small grants will be made available to not-for-profit community groups for projects that focus on reducing social isolation, leadership and skills training, social and educational participation, addressing disadvantage caused by drought, reducing volunteer fatigue, building capacity and supporting local economic recovery or renewal.
Rabobank’s report said the season would go down as one of the worst ever for eastern Australia and it would be the lowest winter crop for all of Australia, were it not for better harvest prospects in Western Australia.
“For vast regions of the eastern states, there will be no harvest, and where there is a harvest, yields will be anywhere between 30 per cent and 50 per cent down on average,” the report says.
Recent rain in eastern cropping regions is not expected to generate significant benefit to yields, the Rabobank report said.
According to Rabobank analyst Wes Lefroy, the report author, WA production, which had been touted earlier in the year to threaten the state’s 17.7mt record from 2016-17, had been downgraded due to back-to-back spring frosts in southern parts of the state.
For more information on Regional Drought Communities Small Grants visit www.frrr.org.au/grants/tackling_tough_times_together or the Department of Regional Development at www.infrastructure.gov.au
