Australian Bureau of Statistics 1301.0 - Year Book Australia,
1988 Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME)
01/01/1988 |Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product| This
page was updated on 22 Nov 2012 to include the disclaimer below.
No other content in this article was affected. A large part of
the Australian continent is not particularly suited to
agricultural production in comparison with the land resources of
other major agricultural producers. This is mainly due to the
seasonality and limited rainfall of the continent combined with
very high rates of potential evaporation, and to prolonged
droughts which periodically affect most parts of the Australian
continent. The vast interior of the Australian continent
receives little rainfall in either winter or summer (less than
300 mm a year). This, combined with very high potential
evaporation (in excess of 3,000 mm a year from a standard pan in
which water is available at all times), means that in most years
and in most seasons there is a soil m