Australia's agricultural sector can expect above-average rains in the western part of the country over the next three months, while some southeastern regions could be unseasonably dry, according to the nation's Bureau of Meteorology.
The outlook reflects the much warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean, and an El Nino weather system in the Pacific, the bureau said in a notice on its website.
An El Nino typically brings warm, dry conditions for much of the Australian east coast. Such conditions are unfavourable for production of wheat.
Grain growers face a high risk of reduced wheat harvests this winter due to El Nino, according to Andries Potgieter, a scientist at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation.
"The July modeling suggests that the likely impact of El Nino on the winter crop this season could be very significant," Potgieter said.
Wheat growers throughout Australia face a high-risk of low yielding crops for the 2015 winter cropping season, but the effect will vary from region to region, he said.
Source - http://www.reuters.com/
