Ukraine war: As wheat prices soar, Australian farmers step up
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Loading... - Sarah Williams
- 10 Mar 2022
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Australian wheat farmers are top contenders to make up for the loss of grain from Russia and Ukraine, which normally accounts for one-quarter of the world’s annual wheat trade.
But supply chain bottlenecks, skyrocketing fertiliser prices and tougher growing conditions linked to climate change present significant challenges to the Australian solution.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences has predicted a record wheat crop of 36.3 million tonnes for the 2021-2022 financial year ending June 30 – 5 percent more than the previous year’s record harvest – due to above-average rainfall.
Australia, which accounts for 10 to 15 percent of the global wheat trade, is also one of the few major grain-producing nations unaffected by last year’s drought in the Northern Hemisphere.
The US, the world’s number two producer, expects wheat yields to fall 10 percent this year, according to Gro Intelligence. In Canada, the world’s number three producer, yields plummeted 38.5 percent in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. Read More...
