Drought

The unprecedented bushfire season is playing out in a way that climate scientists predicted years ago, demonstrating again how agriculture assets, especially those in a country like Australia, are vulnerable to climate risk.

Basin state governments all said progress was made at a meeting this week, although claims of an ‘overhaul’ of the Plan by the NSW government were dismissed by observers.

Rabobank found that 41% of farmers thought agricultural conditions would worsen in the coming 12 months, after ABARES revised down its winter crop forecast for 2019-20 by 13%.

One Tree Agriculture lists properties after completing sale of another Queensland aggregation earlier this year to Canadian pension PSP.

Steve Jarrott joins Warakirri from Westchester, where he was Australian portfolio manager, to oversee its latest diversified ag fund.

Rural lender issues pessimistic winter crop outlook for 2019-20 that is significantly lower than official government forecasts.

The heads of two of Australia’s largest beef producers said that northern Queensland floods had benefited their portfolios in some ways, with portfolio diversification also helping to mitigate negative weather events.

Ongoing drought in eastern and northern Australia has put downward pressure on prices and led to a spike in production last year due to a lack of pasture.

Farm income returns dropped to their lowest level in four years as dry conditions persist in eastern and northern Australia, but annualized returns remain steady year-on-year.

Consultant Aither found the average monthly water allocation price was A$550/ML, with entitlement values also ‘well above’ previous records.