Fed: Drought ends, crops grow but the legacy of the dry lingers

AAP General News (Australia)
12-23-2003
Fed: Drought ends, crops grow but the legacy of the dry lingers

By Shane Wright

CANBERRA, Dec AAP - During the worst drought in 100 years, Australian farmers looked
to the skies and prayed.

Most were rewarded, but the drought of 2002 continued to cause problems in 2003 right to the end.

And some overseas long-range weather forecasters even suggested the dreaded El Nino
weather phenomenon might reappear in 2004.

Rain returned to average levels for most of Australia, although water restrictions
were tightened in many areas because of the depth of the 2002 big dry.

The turnaround in the rain has been evidenced in a huge surge in crop plantings.

In 2002, less than 18 million tonnes was harvested from the nation's major winter crops,
including a wheat crop of just 10 million tonnes.

With a break in the drought, farmers hit their tractors.

This season, the winter crop is expected to fall just shy of 38 million tonnes.

The expected wheat crop of 23.9 million tonnes is just short of the record set in 2001-02.

The big increase was not unexpected, with farmers keen to get cash flowing to cover
the debts they incurred during the drought.

But even with a record crop, the weather has been unkind to some.

Dry and cooler conditions during October have knocked down yields for most crops, particularly
through southern NSW and northern Victoria.

And in some parts of Queensland, the drought has continued.

The federal government is expecting to spend $1 billion on drought assistance over
the next three years, while almost all of Australia's farming regions are still under
drought conditions.

The drought is certainly not over for the livestock sector, which will take five or
six years to fully recover.

High prices for young sheep and cattle make restocking expensive for farmers, who were
forced to sell off their animals because of the drought.

A fall in lamb consumption through the year is largely due to the high cost of meat,
because of the lingering effects of the drought.

Linked to the drought is the continuing problem over the shrinking national sheep flock.

Just three years ago there were more than 120 million sheep in Australia's paddocks.

By the end of this year, there are fewer than 100 million.

It is the smallest flock in more than 50 years.

The national fleece is expected to plummet to just 430 million kilograms, again one
of the smallest in decades.

The drought, high prices for lamb and sheep meat, and the quick returns from post-drought
crops, have prompted the dramatic drop-off in sheep numbers.

The industry is so concerned that it launched a campaign to encourage farmers to start
breeding up their flocks.

But with good prices for lamb meat expected for several years to come, and the future
for wool unclear, the flock is tipped to shrink even further.

Apart from the drought, this year has also forced farmers to consider the future of
farming itself.

The nation's genetic modification watchdog approved the first GM food crop for general use.

BayerCropscience's GM canola, altered to make it resistant to a particular herbicide,
would join genetically altered cotton and carnations.

But it, and another GM canola created by Monsanto that is also likely to be approved
for use, were stillborn after almost all state governments placed moratoriums on their
release.

There are continuing doubts whether the release of GM canola will hurt Australia's
ability to export other traditional crops, such as the vital $4 billion wheat trade.

A trial of 5,000 hectares in NSW is being sought by Bayer and Monsanto.

It is likely the trial will be in one region, so that all storage and transport networks
in the area can be tested.

Ultimately, the seed taken from this trial will be exported.

Off the land, one of the most important issues on the rural front was fought and won
in the nation's parliaments.

The Council of Australian Governments agreed it was time to overhaul water property rights.

Under the agreement, which should be finalised early next year, water will be given
the same legal protection as land.

In terms of farmers, that means that if a state government decides it has to keep water
for the environment, then it will have to pay compensation for those farmers forced to
go without.

At the same time, a national water trading system is to be developed so that water
can be bought and sold by farmers.

Banks and the farming community rejoiced at the decision, arguing the continuing doubts
over water had stalled major investment in much of regional Australia.

It was also a win for Nationals leader John Anderson who made the issue his own.

Farmers are now turning their attention to native vegetation laws, following a Productivity
Commission report which found various state regulations were doing little to protect native
flora while hindering farmers carrying out their operations.

But it was not all plain sailing.

A shipload of 57,000 Australian sheep was turned away by Saudi Arabia in August, putting
the $1 billion live export trade at risk.

When it was suggested the animals come home, farmers demanded the sheep be slaughtered
at sea for fear they would bring an exotic disease back to Australia.

Eventually, the government donated the sheep to Eritrea.

Then in November, animal activists fed pork to around 1,800 sheep destined for Kuwait
in a bid to halt the shipment.

There were also concerns within the farming community at the way drought assistance
was being handled, with many farmers finding they failed to qualify for help.

But for the next 12 months ahead, the focus will continue to be on the skies.

AAP sw/jc

KEYWORD: YEARENDER RURAL

2003 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.