03/20/08 Weather and Wheat Board developments down under

Farm and Ranch March 20, 2008 Farmers in Australia will soon be planting their next winter wheat crop. Producers down under have suffered to back-to-back drought years. USDA Outlook Board Chairman Gerry Bange says the Australian wheat crop could rebound this year. Bange: "Pre-conditions in Australia have improved considerably. There is a La Nina in process and usually is associated with more rains in Australia and that appears to be happening." The rains are so far falling in eastern Australia. Bange says the south still remains unusually dry while the western part of the country is experiencing its normal dry season. However; Bange: "The Australian forecasters seem to think that what is going to happen is that these rainy conditions we have seen in the east may spread to the west. So that the wheat planting season doesn't really start until late April or early May. We will be looking very closely on how these weather conditions evolve over the next few months and certainly over the crop season." In other Australian wheat news, legislation has now been drafted that will end the Australian Wheat Board's monopoly on wheat exports. The reform legislation creates a new regulator Wheat Exports Australia, which will issue export licenses to groups that can prove they are "fit and proper companies." U.S. Wheat Associates Vice President of Overseas Operations, Vince Peterson, says this change is long overdue and will be very helpful to the international marketplace in terms of transparency. The Australian reforms are scheduled to be implemented July 1st. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.