(Bloomberg) -- Severe frosts have threatened fields in Australia’s south and southeast that were expected to account for more than 10% of the major shipper’s wheat production, compounding concerns over dryness in western regions.
Temperatures this month reached negative 2C (28F) across almost 1.2 million hectares of wheat fields that were mostly located in New South Wales state, according to crop forecaster Digital Agricultural Services. Frost is particularly damaging for mature wheat crops that are in their final growth stage before harvest, which in Australia usually begins in November.
The area was initially expected to produce 3.2 million tons of wheat, but that could be slashed by between 10% and 60%, according to the Melbourne-based company’s chief data scientist, Sam Atkinson. Quality was also likely to decrease, he said, cautioning that there was no way to be sure until harvest began. The towns of Temora, Wagga Wagga and Young were worst affected, he added.
Although Australia recently forecast this season’s wheat crop at 31.8 million tons, dry conditions in the country’s west — combined with the recent frosts — could cut output to less than 29 million tons, according to Atkinson. A reduction in wheat supplies from the nation could add to concerns about global stockpiles, which are expected to fall to the tightest in nine years.
The wheat crop of grain and pulse farmer Daniel Keam had already been battered by dry weather in recent months, so it was an unwelcome surprise last week when he saw some of the tips of his plants turning white. Since then, the top half of some heads had frozen over, and he was expecting to produce 25% less wheat than he’d originally expected.
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Some other farmers near his property in Wallup — a small town about halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne — hadn’t been so lucky, he said.
“They’re having to cut their wheat in hopes to sell it as hay just to break even,” Keam said. In many cases, frost had developed along the whole wheat stem, cutting off the plant’s ability to receive nutrients and ultimately causing it to die, he said.
Further frosts were forecast for Friday morning in South Australia’s Murraylands district and some southern regions in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, according the the Bureau of Meteorology.
More than 350,000 hectares of barley crops expected to produce 1 million tons, along with 540,000 hectares of canola expected to produce 1.25 million tons, had also been impacted by frosts, Atkinson said.
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