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Oilseeds

The oilseeds industry is a relatively young industry by Australian agricultural standards. The specialist oilseed crops grown in Australia include sunflower, soybeans, canola, safflower and linseed. Sunflower and soybeans are summer grown while the others are winter crops. In Australia, oilseeds are crushed for their oil, which is used for edible and industrial purposes, and as protein meals for livestock feeds.

The 1990s saw the emergence of canola as the main oilseed crop, with production increasing from around 70,000 tonnes in 1990-91 to 2.5 million tonnes in 1999-2000 (see table 16.15). Canola production accounted for nearly 90% of the total Australian oilseed crop of 2.8 million tonnes in 1999-2000 (table 16.31). Before the emergence of canola, the main specialist oilseed crop was sunflower seed. Peanuts and cotton are also major sources of oilseed, but as a by-product of their primary uses.

Cotton is grown mainly in New South Wales and Queensland, primarily for its fibre (lint). When the cotton is mature, seed cotton is taken to a gin where it is separated (ginned) into cotton lint and cotton seed. The lint is used for yarn while the cotton seed is further processed at an oil mill, where the short fibres (linters) remaining on the cotton seed after ginning are removed. These fibres are too short to make into cloth, but are used for wadding, upholstery and paper. The seeds are then separated into kernels and hulls. The hulls are used for stock feed and as fertiliser, while the kernels are crushed to extract oil. The oilcake residue (crushed kernels) is ground into meal, which is a protein roughage, and is also used as a stock feed.

The quantity and value of seed cotton production have risen significantly over the past five years (table 16.32). The gross value of seed cotton in 1999-2000 was $1.4b, a 5% increase over the previous year.

16.32 COTTON, Area and Production
	Seed cotton(a)
Year	Area ’000 ha.	Quantity ’000 t	Gross value $m	Cotton Lint ’000 t
1994-95	245	796	851	317
1995-96	315	923	1,003	381
1996-97	378	1,485	1,156	560
1997-98	381	1,519	1,228	564
1998-99	446	1,547	1,353	634
1999-2000	435	1,950	1,416	698
(a) Before ginning.
Source: Agriculture, Australia (7113.0); ABS data available on request, Agricultural Commodities Survey, Agricultural Census.

Sugar cane is grown commercially in Australia along the east coast over a distance of some 2,100 kilometres in a number of areas from Maclean in northern New South Wales to Mossman in Queensland. More recently, it has also been grown in Western Australia.

About 93% of production occurs in Queensland (table 16.33), with 75% of the crop grown north of the Tropic of Capricorn in areas where rainfall is reliable and the warm, moist and sunny conditions are ideal for growing sugar cane.

16.33 SUGAR CANE CUT FOR CRUSHING, Area, Production and Yield
	New South Wales			Queensland			Western Australia
Year	Area harvested ’000 ha.	Production ’000 t	Yield t/ha.	Area harvested ’000 ha.	Production ’000 t	Yield t/ha.	Area harvested ’000 ha.	Production ’000 t	Yield t/ha.
1994-95	16	1,825	111.2	347	31,146	89.8	(a)	(a)	(a)
1995-96	18	1,923	107.8	359	33,898	94.6	1	69	69.0
1996-97	18	2,231	124.0	371	36,232	97.6	1	170	164.7
1997-98	19	2,416	127.0	394	36,790	93.4	3	326	126.7
1998-99	20	2,555	126.0	379	35,587	93.9	3	392	135.5
1999-2000	20	2,493	123.8	405	35,316	87.2	3	355	123.2
(a) Data not collected.
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (7121.0).

16.34 CROPS AND PASTURES CUT FOR HAY OR SILAGE, Area and Production
	Hay		Silage made
Year	Area ’000 ha.	Production ’000 t		Production ’000 t
1994-95	915	3,352		n.a.
1995-96	1,152	4,496		n.a.
1996-97	922	3,358		1,686
1997-98	967	3,358		2,129
1998-99	1,098	4,292		2,770
1999-2000	969	3,743		2,981
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (7121.0).