7121.0 - Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/03/2016   
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KEY FIGURES

LAND USE, year ended 30 June 2015
Aust.
'000 ha
NSW
'000 ha
Vic.
'000 ha
Qld
'000 ha
SA
'000 ha
WA
'000 ha
Tas.
'000 ha
NT
'000 ha
ACT
'000 ha
Area of farms
384 558
57 399
12 009
135 918
45 837
81 399
1 569
50 392
35
Area of crops (a)
26 192
6 488
4 504
2 407
3 986
8 657
130
19
0
Area of non-agricultural land
384 644
22 665
10 733
37 147
52 511
171 589
5 271
84 521
201
Total land area (b)
769 202
80 064
22 742
173 065
98 348
252 988
6 840
134 913
236
(a) Includes broadacre crops, hay and silage, nurseries, cut flowers and cultivated turf, fruit and nuts, and vegetables.
(b) Total land area supplied by Geoscience Australia



KEY LAND USE POINTS
  • At 30 June 2015 there were 385 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia, a 5% reduction compared with the previous year.
  • Almost half of Australia's total land area was used for agriculture. Of all the states and territories, Queensland had the highest proportion of agricultural land, with 79% of the state used for agricultural production, followed by New South Wales with 72%.


FARM MANAGEMENT, year ended 30 June 2015
Aust.
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Average age of respondent (yrs)
57
58
58
56
55
57
57
52
57
Average time respondent involved in farming (yrs)
34
33
35
35
33
34
34
25
25
Male respondents (%)
77
76
79
71
81
81
81
66
81
Female respondents (%)
23
24
21
29
19
19
19
34
19
SOURCES OF FARM INCOME (%)
Agricultural production on holding
74
70
77
71
77
82
72
75
63
Grants, government transfers, relief funding
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
np
np
Off-farm employment/business activities
19
22
16
21
16
13
21
17
26
Other sources
5
6
5
5
5
4
5
5
7
Not stated
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
np
np
np not published


KEY FARM MANAGEMENT POINTS

In 2014-15, key attributes of Australian farm management were:
  • The number of male respondents greatly outweighed the number of female respondents, with 77% of respondents being male.
  • The average number of years respondents were involved in farming was 34. Of the states and territories, both Victoria and Queensland had the highest average at 35 years and both Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory with the lowest at 25 years.
  • The majority of business income for agricultural producers in 2014-15 was from agricultural production (74%), up from 70% in 2013-14.
  • Figure 1 shows the location of agricultural businesses in Australia.

Map: Location of Australian farms