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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Reuters reports [reuters.com]:

Record-low rainfall in some regions and successive seasons of above-average temperatures have blighted vast tracts of Australia's grazing and crop land.

[...] as grain silos in the south are emptied, desperate owners are being forced to slaughter animals, even if it means it will take years for herds to recover.

[...]

The ground in drought-hit regions has dried out to such a depth that it is even killing large trees.

[...]

The current dry period is not as extensive as the Millennium drought of 1997-2005, which devastated nearly 50 percent of the country's agricultural land and was associated with two El Nino systems, which bring hot, dry weather to Australia.

Original Submission