The crops in Australia show below average condition from October 2014 to January 2015. The maximum VCI was between 0.5 and 0.8 for the central and southeastern regions of New SouthWales, between 0.8 and 1.0 for the central area of Victoria, and at an overallvalue of 0.62 for Australia’s cropped land. Compared to the last five years,the cropped regions show below average crop conditions for the entire monitoredperiod, as shown by the spatial NDVI patterns. Regions with VCIx lower than 0.5were not planted over the monitoring period. The NDVI-based crop conditiondevelopment graph also displays below average crop condition from October 2014to January 2015 compared to the last five-years. Even when compared with thesituation of 2013, crop condition was not favorable before January 2015; followingJanuary, however, some degree of recovery can be seen. As it is harvest seasonfor wheat and barley, some fears exist that production will be reduced thisyear, a result from the reduced precipitation during the main growing seasonfrom July to October, 2014. (Seealso table B.2 in Annex B.)

Figure3.6. Australia crop condition, October 2014-January 2015

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI    (b)Maximum VCI

(c)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA           (d)NDVI profiles