Australia: Drought Hits Rice Plantations

A latest Crop Report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) has indicated that this summer's rice crop is forecast to be Australia's smallest on record because of the recent drought.

According to ABARE grain commodity analyst Leanne Lawrance, due to the acute water shortage, only 2,000 hectares are likely to be sown to rice which would be the smallest since the industry began in the early 1920s.