Australian Farming - some interesting facts
| State | No. of farms |
% of total |
| NSW | 38,051 |
31.5 |
| Victoria | 29,666 |
24.5 |
| Queensland | 25,136 |
20.8 |
| South Australia | 12,868 |
10.6 |
| Western Australia | 11,124 |
9.2 |
| Tasmania | 3,547 |
2.9 |
| Northern Territory | 474 |
0.4 |
| ACT | 76 |
0.1 |
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Agricultural Commodities 2008/2009.
- Australian farms and their closely related sectors generate $155 billion-a-year in production - underpinning 12% of GDP.
- based on modelling by Econtech for the Australian Farm Institute,Australia's Farm Dependent Economy Report, 2005 and ABARE, Australian Commodity Statistics, 2009.
- Over the last 30 recorded years (1974-75 to 2003-04), Australian farms have consistently achieved average multifactor productivity growth of 2.8%-a-year - no other industry, with the sole exception of telecommunications and information technology, comes close to this achievement.
- Australian Government Productivity Commission, Trends in Australian Agriculture 2005.
- The gross value of Australian farm production (at farm-gate) totals $41.8 billion-a-year. The top three agricultural commodities produced nationally (ranked by gross $ value) are:
Cattle and calves |
$7.5 billion |
Wheat |
$6.0 billion |
Milk |
$4.0 billion |
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Australian Farmers - food and fibre producers
- Australian farmers produce almost 93% of Australia's daily domestic food supply. Food imports contribute 7.5% of the total value of Australian retail food sales.
- Yet, Australia exports a massive 60% (in volume) of total agricultural production. In terms of value, this represents around 76% of the total gross value of Australian agricultural production.
- Despite the worst drought on record, Australia’s farm exports earned the country $32.1 billion in 2008/09. This represents 11.9% of total commodity exports and 14.7% of all Australian merchandise exports.
- In terms of export earnings for Australia, each of these top eight commodities make a massive contribution to the national economy – accounting for over $20.1 billion of the total $32.1 billion value of agricultural exports.
- Australia’s major agricultural export markets are:
- Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Australian Food Statistics 2007
.
- ABARE, Australian Commodity Statistics, 2009 and Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, At a Glance, 2010
.
- ABARE, Australian Commodity Statistics, 2009 and Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, At a Glance, 2010
.
| Value of exports | |
|---|---|
| AUSTRALIA | $M |
| Wheat | 5,028 |
| Beef and veal | 4,857 |
| Wine | 2,428 |
| Wool | 2,322 |
| Dairy (excl. cheese) | 1,883 |
| Sugar | 1,338 |
| Barley | 1,321 |
| Lamb | 925 |
- Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, At a Glance, 2010
.
| Export Markets | |
|---|---|
Destination |
% of Exports |
| ASEAN | 19% |
| Japan | 16% |
| Other Asian | 13% |
| Middle East | 11% |
| United States | 10% |
| China | 10% |
| European Union | 8% |
| Other | 13% |
- ABARE, Australian Commodities June Quarter,, 2010
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Source: www.nff.org.au
