Grains industry recovers from millennium drought

A stocktake of Australia's grains sector reveals production has returned to long-term averages, with growers recovering financially from the millennium drought.

Grain Growers has published its State of the Australian Grains Industry 2016, updating its previous report from 2011.

It paints a picture of an industry transformed by deregulation and opened up to the forces of international markets.

Average grain production across the sector has increased in value by 50 per cent, to $13.5 billion in the five years to 2015, when compared to the previous five year period

Read the ABC Rural story - “Australian grain producers make strong recovery from millenniumdrought: report.”

Drought-hit Victorian farmers able to apply for $30 million in loans

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rought-hit Victorian farmers battling the devastating effects of failed crops and financial losses will now be able to apply for a share of $30 million in loans.

Severe dry conditions have crippled grain growers in north-west Victoria this season, some properties having had no meaningful rainfall for months on end.

Many crops have failed in the Wimmera and the Mallee, and will not produce any grain, while others have been cut for hay because the likely grain production was severely compromised.

Other farmers have written off their crops and let livestock in to graze the plants.

The dry conditions mean many growers will lose money on their harvest this season, given the vast investment needed to sow crops. For some, it will be the second consecutive year of financial losses.

Read Darren Gray’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “$30m in drought loans for Victorian farmers”.