4627.0 - Land Management and Farming in Australia, 2013-14 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 31/07/2015   
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This document was added or updated on 13/10/2015.


VEGETATION MANAGEMENT
In 2013-14

NATIONAL AND STATE/TERRITORY

    • A total of 2.1 million hectares of agricultural land was converted to a different use during 2013-14. The two most prevalent types of conversions were pastures converted to crops, with 49% of all area converted (or 1 million hectares), and crop land converted to pasture with 46% of all area converted (or 961,000 hectares).
    • Of the state/territories, Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales reported the largest areas of pasture being converted to crop land. Western Australia reported 50% or 515,000 hectares, South Australia reported 19.5% or 199,000 hectares, and New South Wales reported 19% or 195,000 hectares.
    • The largest areas of crop land being converted to pasture also occurred in Western Australia (457,000 hectares), South Australia (209,000 hectares), and New South Wales (172,000 hectares).
    • The most common revegetation practice undertaken by agricultural businesses, measured by the total area, was sowing pasture or grasses (30,900 hectares), followed by mixed plant form revegetation (16,900 hectares) and tree planting (16,600 hectares).

Graph Image for Vegetation Management, Revegetation

Footnote(s): (a) Includes ACT (b) Zero values may represent data that is not available for publication due to confidentiality restrictions

Source(s): Land Management and Farming in Australia, 2013-14

AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT (AAE) REGIONS
    • By area of land, the top three AAE regions where businesses converted land to a different purpose were Wheatbelt West (AAE 15) (725,200 hectares), Wheatbelt Central (AAE 11) (480,500 hectares), and Wheatbelt East (AAE14) (328,000 hectares).
    • Wheatbelt West (AAE 15) recorded the largest area of all regions where pasture was converted to crop land with 382,600 hectares. This region also recorded the largest area of crop land converted to pastures with 334,800 hectares.
    • The regions with the largest number of businesses undertaking planting or sowing for revegetation purposes were Wheatbelt East (AAE 14), Temperate Coast East (AAE10), and Temperate Highlands (AAE 13).
    • Of the total area of revegetated land, 49% was revegetated for livestock production. The largest proportions of this land were located in Wheatbelt East (AAE 14) (8.3% of the national total) and the Subtropical Highlands (AAE 09) (8.1% of the national total).

Percent of agricultural businesses converting pasture to crop land, 2013-14
Image:  Map of agricultural businesses converting pasture to crop land. 2013-14