7121.0 - Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/07/2017   
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KEY FINDINGS

As part of this publication, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released a short video animation covering key findings from the 2015-16 Agricultural Census. This video can be accessed from the link below.



The Agricultural Census is one of the largest statistical collections undertaken by the ABS and provides data on agricultural holdings operated by Australian farming businesses.

Image: Infographic header. See text above for more information.

Data was collected throughout 2015-16 from businesses ranging from beef cattle production to broadacre farming and vineyards.

Image: An infographic illustrating the number of Australian farming business. See text below for more information.

Number of Australian farming businesses: 85,681.


Image: An infographic illustrating the total size of Australian beef, dairy and sheep herds. See text below for more information.

Total size of beef, dairy and sheep herds

  • Beef herd: 22,306,275. Down 1% since 2014-15
  • Dairy herd: 2,665,074. Down 2% since 2014-15
  • Sheep flock: 67,543,092. Down 1% since 2014-15.


Image: An infographic illustrating the gross value of Australia’s agricultural production. See text below for more information.

Gross value of Australia’s agricultural production: $56 billion in 2015–16.


Image: An infographic illustrating the top three Australian crop types. See text below for more information.

Top three crop types

  • Wheat: $6.2 billion
  • Fruit nuts and grapes: $5.6 billion
  • Vegies: $3.6 billion.

Image: An infographic illustrating the total amount of water used on Australian farms. See text below for more information.

Total amount of water used on Australian farms: 9.2 million megalitres.

Image: An infographic illustrating the average size of Australian beef, dairy and sheep herds. See text below for more information.

Average size of beef, dairy and sheep herds
  • Beef herd: 805 head
  • Dairy herd: 412 head
  • Sheep flock: 2,857 head.

Image: An infographic illustrating the average Australian farm size. See text below for more information.

Average farm size: 4,331ha which is up 0.3% since 2014-15.


Image: An infographic illustrating the average use of water by Australian farming businesses. See text below for more information.

Australian farming businesses used an average of 107 megalitres of water. 4 megalitres less than 2014–15.