04/28/05 Some dryness in Australia

Farm and Ranch April 28, 2005 The world produced a record large wheat crop this past year and so far in 2005 the expectation is another good crop is on the way. John Oades of the U.S. Wheat Associates office in Portland, Oregon, says one area of uncertainty though is Australia. Oades: "Seem to have some pretty droughty conditions in a fairly widespread area at planting time in Australia. They are seeding now of course it being the fall there. So we are not sure how that is going to affect the overall plantings or what yields might ultimately be. But the Black Sea tributary countries look like they are going to have a pretty good crop and in general the U.S. crop is in quite good condition. Certainly some dryness here in the Northwest. Things should be off to a fairly good start for plantings in Canada as they are for spring wheat plantings in the U.S. So, it certainly looks like we are going to have a big world crop." USDA meteorologist Mark Brusberg says southwest Europe has been mired in a drought this spring and that extends to Morocco and the eastern Mediterranean. Brusberg: "Syria and some of the states in the eastern Mediterranean are on the dry side. So we have the drought in southwestern Europe and we've got some other areas around the Mediterranean, the worst being Morocco, but also some other states in the Middle East, need rain for their winter wheat crop." Next month we'll get a USDA projection of world wheat production. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.