Produce prices will remain high, with the full impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Covid disruptions in China still to be felt. Photograph: redbrickstock.com/Alamy
Peter Hannam
Wed 1 Jun 2022 03.30 AEST
Australia is set for its third bumper season of crops in a row, but the increased production will probably bring little relief at the cash register as rising global demand pushes prices skyward.
Australian farmers will plant an area almost the size of England this winter as they try to take advantage of soaring global food prices and a third year of good rains.
The quality of production, though, may be hit by waterlogged fields and reduced fertiliser use as those costs surge, according to Rabobank. Local manufacturers, too, say they’re under strain as raw material and other prices climb and not all of the increases can be passed on.
This winter, farmers will plant a record 23.83m hectares, up 1% on last year, and just shy of England’s 24.36m total area, the bank said in its Winter Crop Outlook. That tally is also 11% more than the five-year average, with wheat plantings up 1.4% and canola, an oilseed, up by 20.9%. Plantings of barley, oats and pulses have dropped.