<p>Australia's winter crop production is set to soar 64 per cent after much-needed rainfall eased a drought that had ravaged the country's southeast, according to official projections released Tuesday.</p>.<p>The agriculture department said production of major winter crops including wheat, barley and canola would increase substantially, taking output 20 per cent above the 10-year average.</p>.<p>It comes after Australia's hottest and driest year on record in 2019 drove summer output to the lowest levels since 1980-81, with a two-thirds fall in production.</p>.<p>Steve Hatfield-Dodds, executive director of the department's statistical body ABARES, said the boost in output was driven largely by rainfall in New South Wales state, which has borne the brunt of a prolonged drought.</p>.<p>"New South Wales production is forecast to be 14.8 million tonnes in 2020-21 -- that's more than a 300 per cent increase on last year and the highest since 2016-17," he said.</p>.<p>Parts of the state -- as well as large swathes of neighbouring Queensland -- remain in drought, but above-average rainfall predicted through spring has raised hopes of an end to the three-year dry spell.</p>.<p>The agriculture department said the expected favourable conditions would support summer production in most regions with the exception of Western Australia, where less rainfall was expected.</p>.<p>The area planted is forecast to rise by 194 per cent to around 1.0 million hectares (2.5 million acres) in summer, though that remained well below average.</p>.<p>The climate-change-fuelled drought also exacerbated a bushfire season that ripped through more than 10 million hectares of tinder-dry landscape in Australia's south and east, killing 33 people.</p>.<p>The agriculture sector makes up around three per cent of Australia's gross domestic product.</p>
<p>Australia's winter crop production is set to soar 64 per cent after much-needed rainfall eased a drought that had ravaged the country's southeast, according to official projections released Tuesday.</p>.<p>The agriculture department said production of major winter crops including wheat, barley and canola would increase substantially, taking output 20 per cent above the 10-year average.</p>.<p>It comes after Australia's hottest and driest year on record in 2019 drove summer output to the lowest levels since 1980-81, with a two-thirds fall in production.</p>.<p>Steve Hatfield-Dodds, executive director of the department's statistical body ABARES, said the boost in output was driven largely by rainfall in New South Wales state, which has borne the brunt of a prolonged drought.</p>.<p>"New South Wales production is forecast to be 14.8 million tonnes in 2020-21 -- that's more than a 300 per cent increase on last year and the highest since 2016-17," he said.</p>.<p>Parts of the state -- as well as large swathes of neighbouring Queensland -- remain in drought, but above-average rainfall predicted through spring has raised hopes of an end to the three-year dry spell.</p>.<p>The agriculture department said the expected favourable conditions would support summer production in most regions with the exception of Western Australia, where less rainfall was expected.</p>.<p>The area planted is forecast to rise by 194 per cent to around 1.0 million hectares (2.5 million acres) in summer, though that remained well below average.</p>.<p>The climate-change-fuelled drought also exacerbated a bushfire season that ripped through more than 10 million hectares of tinder-dry landscape in Australia's south and east, killing 33 people.</p>.<p>The agriculture sector makes up around three per cent of Australia's gross domestic product.</p>