Heavy rains in eastern Australia could wipe out or damage up to 4 million tonnes of wheat due to be harvested shortly, forecasters said on Friday.
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| Farmers have been working round the clock to harvest their crops before the wild weather strikes. |
The "major weather event" being faced by most of Victoria and parts of South Australia and NSW this weekend poses a major threat to the countries grain harvest.
"The main concern is that these are the areas where crops are still being harvested," said James Maxwell of Australian Crop Forecasters, which expects to downgrade its national wheat forecast of 21.7 million tonnes once the damage is assessed.
"At the moment, we estimate that around 4 million tonnes will be affected," Mr Maxwell said.
It was not yet possible to determine how much of the crop would be wiped out and how much is downgraded due to the onset of re-sprouting, or premature germination, resulting in lower yields.
Read the story in the Melbourne Age - “Wild weather: Monster storm threatens 20 per cent of Australia's wheat crop.”
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