Winter cereal cropping in northern Queensland has the potential to lift the total area planted to grain crops in Australia by as much as 50 per cent – from the 22 million hectares currently cropped to as much as 33 million hectares.
The current winter crop outlook for Queensland as a whole indicates a predicted crop yield of 1.34 t/ha, which is 28% below the long-term median yield expectation and within the lowest 5% relative to all years.
At this early stage in the winter crop season, chances for an above average yielding crop are similar to climatology (50:50) for the 2017 wheat crop across most of Queensland.
At present, this early in the winter crop growing season, starting soil water conditions and the seasonal rainfall outlook indicate that chances are similar to climatology (50:50) for an above average wheat yield during the 2017 wheat-growing season across most of Queensland.
A new photosynthesis discovery at The University of Queensland may help breed faster-growing wheat crops that are better adapted to hotter, drier climates.