yuvgotmel
Well-Known Member
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=164072
World wheat supplies to decline
Monday, May 14, 2007
MAY 13 : The US government has forecasted that the world reserves of wheat, before next years harvest, will decline for a third-straight year to the lowest level in 26 years.
Global inventories will fall to 113.3 million metric tonne on May 31, 2008, down 5.8% from an estimated 120.4 million at the end of this month and the lowest since 1982, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its first forecast of world wheat production for the market year that begins June 1. I would consider those numbers to be fairly darned tight, said Jason Britt, an analyst at Central States Commodities in Kansas City, Missouri. When you put a world wheat number down around that level, prices will rise, he said.
Supplies declined after the crop in Australia, the worlds third-largest exporter of the grain, was devastated by drought from May through September. Australia will produce 10.5 million metric tonne by May 31, 57% less than a year earlier, the USDA said.
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****************************************************************World wheat supplies to decline
Monday, May 14, 2007
MAY 13 : The US government has forecasted that the world reserves of wheat, before next years harvest, will decline for a third-straight year to the lowest level in 26 years.
Global inventories will fall to 113.3 million metric tonne on May 31, 2008, down 5.8% from an estimated 120.4 million at the end of this month and the lowest since 1982, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its first forecast of world wheat production for the market year that begins June 1. I would consider those numbers to be fairly darned tight, said Jason Britt, an analyst at Central States Commodities in Kansas City, Missouri. When you put a world wheat number down around that level, prices will rise, he said.
Supplies declined after the crop in Australia, the worlds third-largest exporter of the grain, was devastated by drought from May through September. Australia will produce 10.5 million metric tonne by May 31, 57% less than a year earlier, the USDA said.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ankLLq8YeCBw&refer=australia
A drought has cut as much as 1 percentage point from economic growth, Prime Minister John Howard said. Australia's weather forecaster predicts only a 50 percent chance of average rainfall in the next three months.
``Many thousands of Australian farmers are affected by drought, the worst on record,'' Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said in a statement released with 2007-08 budget papers. ``The funds will be available in the areas with the highest needs.''
The drought cut agricultural output by 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter, curbing earnings at grain traders AWB Ltd. and ABB Grain Ltd. Australia is the world's third-largest wheat and dairy exporter and No. 2 beef shipper.
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****************************************************************A drought has cut as much as 1 percentage point from economic growth, Prime Minister John Howard said. Australia's weather forecaster predicts only a 50 percent chance of average rainfall in the next three months.
``Many thousands of Australian farmers are affected by drought, the worst on record,'' Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said in a statement released with 2007-08 budget papers. ``The funds will be available in the areas with the highest needs.''
The drought cut agricultural output by 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter, curbing earnings at grain traders AWB Ltd. and ABB Grain Ltd. Australia is the world's third-largest wheat and dairy exporter and No. 2 beef shipper.
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http://www.theolympian.com/109/story/98988.html
SYDNEY, Australia Almost everywhere you travel these days, people are talking about their weather and how it has changed. Nowhere have I found this more true, though, than in Australia, where the big dry, a six-year record drought, has parched the Aussie breadbasket so severely that on April 19, Prime Minister John Howard actually asked the whole country to pray for rain. I told people you have to pray for rain, Howard remarked to me, adding, I said it without a hint of irony.
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****************************************************************SYDNEY, Australia Almost everywhere you travel these days, people are talking about their weather and how it has changed. Nowhere have I found this more true, though, than in Australia, where the big dry, a six-year record drought, has parched the Aussie breadbasket so severely that on April 19, Prime Minister John Howard actually asked the whole country to pray for rain. I told people you have to pray for rain, Howard remarked to me, adding, I said it without a hint of irony.
(more at link above)
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSPEK15498020070427
Australia drought is climate change warning: UK
Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:56AM EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Drought-hit Australia may offer a warning of how climate change threatens core human needs, as the continent's food bowl faces the prospect of having irrigation cut off, Britain's climate change ambassador said.
Canberra has said it will halt irrigation to an area that usually grows over a third of the country's farm produce, if heavy rain does not fall in the next few weeks.
"If that happens, that is not just an economic blow to Australia, it will do significant damage beyond Australia because of its effect on world food prices," John Ashton told Reuters during a visit to the Chinese capital.
"That is a current threat which almost certainly, or at least very probably, arises from human-induced climate change."
Australia faced an "unprecedentedly dangerous" drought, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said last week. Parts of the country have been stricken for a decade.
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****************************************************************Australia drought is climate change warning: UK
Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:56AM EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Drought-hit Australia may offer a warning of how climate change threatens core human needs, as the continent's food bowl faces the prospect of having irrigation cut off, Britain's climate change ambassador said.
Canberra has said it will halt irrigation to an area that usually grows over a third of the country's farm produce, if heavy rain does not fall in the next few weeks.
"If that happens, that is not just an economic blow to Australia, it will do significant damage beyond Australia because of its effect on world food prices," John Ashton told Reuters during a visit to the Chinese capital.
"That is a current threat which almost certainly, or at least very probably, arises from human-induced climate change."
Australia faced an "unprecedentedly dangerous" drought, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said last week. Parts of the country have been stricken for a decade.
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http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9065059
Australia's prime minister, John Howard, has announced that irrigation supply to the Murray-Darling basin (eastern Australia's main water resource) will be cut off if the drought-afflicted region does not receive heavy rainfall over the next two months. Given that the region is Australia's most important agricultural area, accounting for around two-thirds of farm output by value, such a decision would not only add to the woes of Australia's extremely weak agricultural sector. It could also have wider economic repercussions by boosting food-price inflation and hurting agricultural exports. All this would in turn affect the political scene
The economic effects of Australia's drought crisis are likely to spill over into politics, particularly if the decision to cut off irrigation supply is taken.
(more at link above)
****************************************************************Australia's prime minister, John Howard, has announced that irrigation supply to the Murray-Darling basin (eastern Australia's main water resource) will be cut off if the drought-afflicted region does not receive heavy rainfall over the next two months. Given that the region is Australia's most important agricultural area, accounting for around two-thirds of farm output by value, such a decision would not only add to the woes of Australia's extremely weak agricultural sector. It could also have wider economic repercussions by boosting food-price inflation and hurting agricultural exports. All this would in turn affect the political scene
The economic effects of Australia's drought crisis are likely to spill over into politics, particularly if the decision to cut off irrigation supply is taken.
(more at link above)
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=56&ItemID=12655
The Prime Minister, John Howard, a hardened climate-change sceptic, delivered dire tidings to the nation's farmers yesterday. Unless there is significant rainfall in the next six to eight weeks, irrigation will be banned in the principal agricultural area. Crops such as rice, cotton and wine grapes will fail, citrus, olive and almond trees will die, along with livestock.
A ban on irrigation, which would remain in place until May next year, spells possible ruin for thousands of farmers, already debt-laden and in despair after six straight years of drought.
(more at link above)
****************************************************************The Prime Minister, John Howard, a hardened climate-change sceptic, delivered dire tidings to the nation's farmers yesterday. Unless there is significant rainfall in the next six to eight weeks, irrigation will be banned in the principal agricultural area. Crops such as rice, cotton and wine grapes will fail, citrus, olive and almond trees will die, along with livestock.
A ban on irrigation, which would remain in place until May next year, spells possible ruin for thousands of farmers, already debt-laden and in despair after six straight years of drought.
(more at link above)
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Australia_s_drought_linked_to_globa_04202007.html
Australia's drought linked to global warming
But scientists said the link between climate change and the drying up of rivers in the vast Murray-DarlingBasin, which threatens the survival of Australia's prime agricultural zone, was strengthening.
"You can't say that definitively, but I guess on the balance of evidence from southern Australia, rainfall patterns appear to have shifted," Adelaide University's Professor of Natural Resources Science Wayne Meyer said.
"There's no question about the evidence in terms of increased temperature. We have seen this persistent increase in temperature over the last 30 or 50 years. All the projections are that that will continue."
Meyer said Australia, with its warm climate, vast deserts and lack of mountains, would be one of the first countries in the world to be hit by the hardships caused by global warming.
(more at link above)
****************************************************************Australia's drought linked to global warming
But scientists said the link between climate change and the drying up of rivers in the vast Murray-DarlingBasin, which threatens the survival of Australia's prime agricultural zone, was strengthening.
"You can't say that definitively, but I guess on the balance of evidence from southern Australia, rainfall patterns appear to have shifted," Adelaide University's Professor of Natural Resources Science Wayne Meyer said.
"There's no question about the evidence in terms of increased temperature. We have seen this persistent increase in temperature over the last 30 or 50 years. All the projections are that that will continue."
Meyer said Australia, with its warm climate, vast deserts and lack of mountains, would be one of the first countries in the world to be hit by the hardships caused by global warming.
(more at link above)
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21621315-952,00.html
TWO towns on the Darling Downs face evacuation because they have almost run out of water and cannot afford to indefinitely cart supplies.
Senior state bureaucrats have discussed the possibility of moving residents from Leyburn, population 200, and Killarney, home to 1500 people.
One of Leyburn's two bores has run dry and there are fears the other could follow.
It is costing $8000 a week to cart water to Killarney, which is at the source of the Murray Darling river system.
Water Services Association executive director Ross Young said the Government had the power to move people.
"I'm not sure it has ever been used in Australia because of an inability to supply water in a cost-effective manner, but water is becoming increasingly scarce," he said. "The reality is with no water, you can't live anywhere for long. If this goes on for years, there is a real question of how you provide water supplies to these communities."
TWO towns on the Darling Downs face evacuation because they have almost run out of water and cannot afford to indefinitely cart supplies.
Senior state bureaucrats have discussed the possibility of moving residents from Leyburn, population 200, and Killarney, home to 1500 people.
One of Leyburn's two bores has run dry and there are fears the other could follow.
It is costing $8000 a week to cart water to Killarney, which is at the source of the Murray Darling river system.
Water Services Association executive director Ross Young said the Government had the power to move people.
"I'm not sure it has ever been used in Australia because of an inability to supply water in a cost-effective manner, but water is becoming increasingly scarce," he said. "The reality is with no water, you can't live anywhere for long. If this goes on for years, there is a real question of how you provide water supplies to these communities."
