1318.3 - Qld Stats, May 2010

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/05/2010

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Contents >> Environment and Energy Statistics >> Recent Environment and Energy Statistics

RECENT ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY STATISTICS

Water Use on Australian Farms, 2008-09

Water Use on Australian Farms, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4618.0) was released on 19 April 2010.

This publication presents estimates of agricultural water use, including pastures and crops irrigated, irrigation water sources, irrigation methods, irrigation water management and irrigation expenditure and assets. Data are available for a range of sub-state geographic levels, including Natural Resource Management region, Statistical Division and Murray-Darling Basin. The data are based on a response rate of 88% from a sample of approximately 38,000 agricultural businesses selected for the 2008-09 Agricultural Survey.

Some data for Queensland:

In 2008-09, the 28,142 agricultural businesses used 2,295,681 ML of water, comprising of 2,058,471 ML for irrigation and 237,211 ML for other purposes.
In 2008-09, there were 8,805 agricultural businesses irrigating in Queensland. They irrigated 547,949 ha with an average application rate of 3.8 ML/ha.
There were 6,924 agricultural businesses located within the catchment of the Murray-Darling basin. Of these, 1,317 irrigated 171,308 ha and used 665,290 ML, an average application rate of 3.9 ML/ha.

Land Management Practices in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, Final, 2008-09

Land Management Practices in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, Final, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4619.0.55.001) was released on 23 April 2010.

This publication contains final detailed estimates of land management practices undertaken in 28 catchments flowing into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

The survey - part of the Australian government's Reef Rescue Program - found that large crop growing farms were more likely to use land management techniques such as changing farm layout to industry best practice to avoid "off-farm" chemical loss, than small farms.

Information was collected about surface and irrigation water management, fertiliser and herbicide use, as well as the cropping and grazing practices of farmers.

This information will be used to support major government investments to increase the take up of farming practices that ensure the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

Land Management Practices in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, Experimental Estimates, 2008-09

Land Management Practices in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, Experimental Estimates, 2008-09 (cat. no. 4619.0.55.002) was released on 23 April 2010.

These experimental estimates complement the release, Land Management Practices in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, Final Estimates, 2008-09 (cat. no 4619.0.55.001).

This publication highlights the flexible output that is available when conducting surveys using a land parcel frame for data collection. Although the original survey design did not take into consideration any of the statistical output shown in these experimental estimates, the land parcel methodology has enabled the production of information at a finer level of geography (sub catchment) and for holdings of different sizes as measured by the area of land mainly used for agricultural production.

Outputs by land size were produced to test the hypothesis that land owners and managers had a different take up rate of land management practices depending on the size of the holding.

Outputs by sub catchment have been produced to demonstrate to users of this data that it is possible to produce data at a relatively fine geographic level.

In this release key features of each table are discussed with some of the information presented as maps.

Some data included in this release:

In the 28 Great Barrier Reef catchments there were 8,264 holdings reporting they had land that was mainly used for crops. This included land used for sugar cane, grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cotton, grapevines and nurseries. It also included holdings with land that was left fallow between crops.
During high periods of rainfall risk or irrigation schedule, avoiding planting or applying chemicals was done by 63% of medium holdings (50-150 ha), 60% of large holdings (150 ha or more) and 47% of small holdings (less than 50 ha).
Proportionally, more of the larger holdings (39%) changed their farm layout to industry best practice to avoid "off farm" chemical loss than the small and medium sized holdings (20% and 36% respectively).
Using mechanical cultivation as an alternate control method for controlling weeds, pests or diseases was a practice undertaken by 70% of the large holdings, 67% of the medium sized holdings and 42% of the small sized holdings.
Nearly 60% of large holdings engaged in grazing ensured they had at least a 40% ground cover remaining on their paddocks at the end of the 2008 dry season. By way of comparison, 42% of small holdings and 48% of medium sized holdings ensured they had at least a 40% ground cover remaining.
Active control of stock access to riparian areas was reported by nearly half (45%) of all holdings in the Upper Burnett River sub catchment. This was more than double that reported in any other Burnett River sub catchment.

Energy in Focus: Energy Efficient Australian Homes, Australia, April 2010

Energy in Focus: Energy Efficiency of Australian Homes, Australia, April 2010 (cat. no. 4614.0.55.002) was released on 30 April 2010.

This publication contains information that relates to the energy efficiency of Australian homes. The articles focus on housing characteristics, the selection and use of appliances and the use of renewable energy in Australian homes to build a picture of household energy efficiency. They use data from the ABS Energy Account 2006-07 and environmental household survey data published in Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation, March 2008, as well as data from the ABS Australian Demographic Statistics, Sept 2009 and Household and Family Projections, Australia, 2001 to 2026.