An estimated 61.2 million hectares or 45% of the Northern Territory's land area (135 million hectares) was used for agricultural activity in 2006-07. Only 19,000 hectares of the Northern Territory's agricultural land was used for cropping.

	Crops(a) '000 ha	Agricultural land(b) '000 ha	Non-agricultural land(c) '000 ha
2002-03	7	63 263	71 650
2003-04	7	63 124	71 789
2004-05	7	62 473	72 440
2005-06(d)	9	59 127	75 786
2006-07(d)	*19	61 202	73 711

* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution.
(a) Excludes crops harvested for hay and seed, and pasture and grasses.
(b) Total area of businesses with an estimated value of agricultural operations of $5,000 or more.
(c) Comprises conserved land, forestry, urban and unused land such as vacant Crown land, commercially unused land on Aboriginal and other Crown reserves and waste land, ephemeral lakes, mangrove swamps, as well as businesses not included in the scope of the Agricultural Census/Survey.
(d) The ABS has moved to a new frame from the 2005-06 Agricultural Census onwards. This means that data are not directly comparable with historical time series. For more information, please see the technical notes at the back of the 2005-06 edition of the source publication 7121.0.
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0).


During the 2006-07 financial year, Northern Territory farmers spent about $5 million controlling pests, which is in line with the amount spent on weeds and on land and soil problems. The total cost of managing these problems was $14 million or an average of $24,000 per agricultural business that reported these Natural Resource Management (NRM) activities.

	Weeds	Pests	Land and soil
Agricultural businesses reporting NRM problems (no.)	405	462	279
Agricultural businesses reporting NRM activities (no.)	548	509	253
NRM expenditure of Ag. businesses reporting NRM activities:
Total expenditure ($m)	5	5	5
Average expenditure ($/agricultural business)(b)	8 332	10 388	17 946
Average expenditure ($/'000 ha)(c)	102	97	182
NRM effort on Ag. businesses reporting NRM activities:
Total effort (person days)	17 836	^18 856	^7 907
Average effort (person days/agricultural business)(d)	33	^37	^31
Average effort (person days/'000 ha)(e)	_	^_	^_

^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution.
— nil or rounded to zero (including null cells).
(a) The management of weed, pest and land and soil related problems. The management of other types of problems are not included.
(b) Total expenditure on NRM related activities, divided by the number of agricultural businesses reporting NRM related activities.
(c) Total expenditure on NRM related activities, divided by the total area ('000 ha) of agricultural businesses reporting NRM related activities.
(d) Total effort on NRM related activities, divided by the number of agricultural businesses reporting NRM related activities.
(e) Total effort on NRM related activities, divided by the total area ('000 ha) of agricultural businesses reporting NRM related activities.
Source: Natural Resource Management on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4620.0).


In 2006-07, 53% of Northern Territory agricultural businesses reported using water for irrigation, with the total area irrigated being 6,000 hectares. These businesses used 19.7 gigalitres of water for irrigation of crops and pastures.

	Agricultural businesses no.	Agricultural businesses irrigating no.	Area under pasture or crop '000 ha	Area irrigated '000 ha	Volume applied ML	Application rate ML/ha
Totals(a)	(b)643	(b)342	(c)61 202	6	19 737	3.2
Pasture for grazing	na	^8	na	*—	*338	*1.1
Pasture harvested for hay (including lucerne), silage or seed	na	np	na	np	np	np
Cereal crops harvested for grain or seed(d)	*8	np	**7	np	np	np
Cereal crops cut for hay or for grazing or fed off	na	—	na	—	—	—
Other broadacre crops(e)	**29	np	**6	np	np	np
Fruit trees, nut trees, plantation or berry fruits(f)	265	237	5	5	12 639	2.8
Vegetables for human consumption or seed	na	74	na	1	2 490	3.6
Nurseries, cut flowers or cultivated turf	37	36	^—	—	583	6.5
Grapevines	7	7	—	—	2 097	8.2

— nil or rounded to zero (including null cells).
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution.
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution.
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use.
na not available
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Totals include other pastures or crops not elsewhere classified.
(b) Total does not equal the sum as many businesses grow or irrigate more than one crop or pasture.
(c) Total includes area of all agricultural land. This does not equal the sum of area under pasture or crop as not all land on agricultural holdings is under pasture or crop.
(d) Excludes rice.
(e) Excludes sugar cane and cotton.
(f) Excludes grapevines.
Source: Water Use on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4618.0).

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