Good rainfall across much of Australia's wheat, barley and canola belt sparked widespread planting of winter grains this week, and gave wheat growers a chance to chase a record 27 million tonne crop.
About one-third of Australia's 12 million-hectare (30 million acres) wheat belt had been planted by the end of the week, industry sources estimated. "Once you get the rain it happens pretty quickly.
They go around the clock and seed 500 to 600 acres (200-240 hectares) a day. You get 10,000 farmers doing that, you crank up pretty quickly," one industry source said.
Wheat was the main crop being planted this week, with Australian winter crops normally following lupines, canola, wheat, and barley planting sequence.
Australia is the world's second-largest wheat and canola exporter, after the United States and Canada. It is the world's biggest barley exporter, excluding the European Union.
This week's rainfall came near the end of the planting period for canola, just in time to allow late planting to proceed.
But the timing of the rain was ideal for wheat, and gave growers a chance to chase a record 27 million tonne crop, which one private group, Australian Wheat Forecasters, has predicted.
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