Australia: Peanut crop could be smallest in 3 years

Kumbia grower Julian Cross is harvesting a smaller crop of peanuts this month due to poor conditions reducing the legume's attractiveness. Picture: Brandon Long The Australian peanut crop - of which 90 per cent is grown in Queensland - could be the smallest in three years according to the latest data. A lack of publicly available information makes the peanut crop harder to track than sorghum or wheat, but the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service puts the 2022-23 crop at 11,000 hectares for 16,000 tonnes. Julian Cross, who is about to start harvesting at Four Winds, Kumbia, said hectares were down in his district due to unfavourable seasonal conditions. "It was a bit wet, then it dried out, then we were battling to get rain to plant anything then. The tap turned off in September and no one can find out how to turn it back on," Mr Cross said. The grower said they picked up "bits and pieces" of rain along the way and decided to pivot to other crops. "The peanuts need a really good drink ...