Barley

The total area of barley sown for grain in 2010-11 fell by 15% from 2009-10, down to 3.7 million hectares. The largest area of barley sown was in Western Australia with 1.1 million hectares.

However, production of barley for grain in 2010-11 rose by 4% to 8.1 million tonnes. The majority of production was in New South Wales (2.2 million tonnes), South Australia (2.2 million tonnes) and Victoria (2.0 million tonnes).


Canola

In 2010-11, the total area of canola sown rose by 24% from 2009-10 to 2.1 million hectares. All states reported increases in area sown in 2010-11.

Canola production had a similar rise (25%), up to 2.4 million tonnes. All states experienced increased production, except Western Australia, where drought conditions led to a 31% decrease.


Cotton

Substantial increases in area planted and production continued for cotton with the area of cotton planted rising by 177% from the previous year to 544,000 hectares. Better expected prices was one reason for increases in the area sown, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland.

The production of cotton lint more than doubled, up to 757,000 tonnes. However, despite the increased area sown, New South Wales and Queensland reported lower yields, due to the effects of floods.


Grain sorghum

After a fall in the area of grain sorghum sown in 2009-10, there was a significant increase in 2010-11, up by 35% to 674,000 hectares. The largest area of sorghum sown was in Queensland (459,000 hectares), up by 38% from 2009-10.

Production of sorghum for grain in 2010-11 rose by 37% to 2.1 million tonnes. Production in Queensland was 1.2 million tonnes, while in New South Wales it was 823,000 tonnes.


Lupins

The area of lupins sown for grain rose 13% from 2009-10 to 783,000 hectares and production rose by 2% to 841,000 tonnes.


Oats

The area of oats sown for grain in 2010-11 decreased by 2% to 833,000 hectares. New South Wales and Victoria were the only states to report increases, with 322,000 hectares and 169,000 hectares respectively.

Total production of oats for grain in 2010-11 fell by 2% to 1.1 million tonnes. In Western Australia, production fell by 42% to 286,000 tonnes. New South Wales, however, increased by 126% to 477,000 tonnes.


Rice

The area of rice sown almost quadrupled from 2009-10, up to 75,000 hectares. Accordingly, rice production rose by 269% to 726,000 tonnes. New South Wales (720,000 tonnes) remained Australia's primary rice producing state.


Sugar cane

Extreme weather conditions resulted in the area of sugar cane planted for crushing falling by 25% from the previous year to 292,000 hectares.

Production of sugar cane cut for crushing fell by 20% to 25.0 million tonnes.


Wheat

The total area of wheat sown for grain in 2010-11 fell by 2% from the previous season to 13.6 million hectares. Western Australia had the largest area sown with 4.7 million hectares, whilst New South Wales had 3.8 million hectares and South Australia had 2.4 million hectares.

Despite low yields of wheat for grain in some regions for 2009-10, total production rose by 28% in 2010-11, to 27.9 million tonnes. All states had increases except Western Australia, which due to very dry conditions fell by 38% to 5.0 million tonnes. New South Wales doubled its previous year's production, up to 10.7 million tonnes.