Australia: WA croppers endure a tough start

The increasing likelihood of a late autumn break is weighing heavily on the minds of those within the WA grains sector. Much of Australia's largest grain producing state has seen markedly below average rainfall since spring, with isolated pockets of storm-driven rainfall in the eastern wheatbelt the only exception. WA Grains Group (WAGG) chairman and Mid West farmer Alastair Falconer said there was still ample time for the season to recover but cautioned farmers were becoming concerned about the dry conditions. "The average timing of the autumn break for WA is not until around May 10, so we are still a way off that yet, but the medium term 14 day outlook does not have a lot of promise for rain so it doesn't look likely we'll get a lot of crop up before that date," Mr Falconer, who farms at Coorow, between Perth and Geraldton, said. "The in-crop rainfall is the key in our cropping systems so there's still well and truly the chance for things to turnaround but we do like to get the ...