Drought has plagued Australia’s wheat crop for the third year in a row, and the sharp production losses have caused the traditionally major wheat supplier to slip into its most insignificant state ever on the global export scene. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced Australia’s 2019-20 wheat harvest to 18 million tonnes from the previous estimate of 19 million. That would top last year’s 17.3 million tonnes, an 11-year low, but it is paltry compared with the country’s record 2016-17 crop of 31.8 million tonnes. The harvest could shrink, however, as the dryness is more evenly distributed across the country than a year ago, and hot temperatures have made things even worse. Late last month, the Australian government pledged an additional $68 million in aid for its crippled agriculture sector after previously committing about $4.7 billion to the cause. So far this year, wheat regions in leading producer Western Australia have received a third less rainfall than is normal. Out east in New South Wales, only half of the typical year-to-date precipitation has fallen.