Australian Oilseeds Federation - Crop Report August 2005 (excerpts)

Canola plantings remain on track for a 1.3 million tonne crop.

The area sown for New South Wales has been increased by about 9,000 hectares over the July estimate. Area in the north west is well below last year’s area due to the late break. Crops in this region were sown late and emergence is uneven. However, there is a good profile of moisture. In the Central West, most of the area planted is to the east of the Newell Highway. Crops were late sown and/or dry sown and similarly emergence is patchy. There have been several reports of blackleg. The south is a similar story, although moisture conditions are better than the Central West. The recent warm weather has seen good crop growth. There is some incidence of earth mites and
also blackleg. While there have been reports of downy mildew, this is not expected to have a significant impact on the crop. The crop is well behind average i.e. currently 10-50% ground cover, whereas in normal seasons would expect 50-70% ground cover at this time. Yield estimates are unchanged.

The Victorian crop estimate and yield estimate remain unchanged. There have been some reports of lucerne flea, earth mites and blackleg. The Victorian crop will be reliant on a good spring to secure the forecast yield.

The situation in South Australia is similar to Victoria with no change to area or production estimates from the July report. Again the crop will be reliant on a favourable spring.

Estimates are unchanged for Western Australia.