TASMANIA'S poppy industry was on track to return $75-$80 million last year, despite a drop in contracted area and an outbreak of downy mildew, Poppy Growers Tasmania chief executive Keith Rice said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Contracted acreage has fallen each year since the 2012 high of 28,000 hectares, with 25,000 in 2013 and 23,000 last year.
Mr Rice said that the industry expected to lose about 5 per cent, or 3000 hectares, of that 23,000 hectares, but losses had been localised.
"Some farmers have already ploughed their crops in and others will be lucky to cover their costs," he said.
"Having said that, the growing season's been really good and we're still looking at a pretty good crop. We haven't had to use a lot of irrigation water, as a general rule.
"We got those beautiful rains late November, early December. If you could get nature to irrigate at will, that's when you'd have ordered the rain.
"I've looked at some ordinary crops and I've looked at some absolutely magnificent crops, so you'd expect the yield to be near where it usually is, about 2.5 tonnes per hectare.
"Only time will tell whether or not the alkaloid content is where we want it to be."
Mr Rice said that growers' expectation was that contracted area would not increase in 2015.
"We're just hoping that it won't be cut. We won't know that until sometime in March," he said.
"Contracted area will depend on forward orders and the yield of last year's crop."
