7121.0 - Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2016-17 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/05/2018   
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KEY FIGURES

LAND USE, Australia, year ended 30 June 2017
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
393 797
55 414
10 852
137 955
49 720
83 770
1 480
54 580
25
Area of crops (a)
28 130
7 580
4 435
2 605
4 462
8 894
134
21
0
Area of non-agricultural land
375 405
24 650
11 890
35 110
48 628
169 218
5 360
80 333
211
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 and horticulture
(b) Total land area supplied by Geoscience Australia



KEY LAND USE POINTS
  • At 30 June 2017 there were 394 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia, a 6% increase compared with the previous year. Coinciding with this increase in agricultural land, there were 2,400 more agricultural businesses, representing a 3% increase since 2015-16.
  • Of all the states and territories, Queensland had the highest proportion of agricultural land, accounting for 35% of total area of holding in Australia, an increase of 1.6% since 2015-16.


FARM MANAGEMENT, Australia, year ended 30 June 2017
Aust.
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Average age of provider (yrs)
57
58
58
57
55
56
56
52
57
Average time provider involved in farming (yrs)
37
37
36
38
35
36
35
26
30
Male providers (%)
79
79
80
74
83
82
81
66
74
Female providers (%)
21
21
20
26
17
18
19
33
26
SOURCES OF FARM INCOME (%)
Agricultural production on holding
85
84
83
85
87
86
82
83
76
Off-farm employment/business activities
12
12
12
13
9
10
14
11
18
Grants, government transfers and relief funding
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
np
np
Other sources
4
4
4
4
3
4
3
np
np
np not available for publication


KEY FARM MANAGEMENT POINTS

In 2016-17, key attributes of Australian farm management were:
  • The average number of years respondents were involved in farming was 37. Queensland had the highest average at 38 years and the Northern Territory the lowest at 26 years.
  • The majority of business income for agricultural producers in 2016-17 was from agricultural production (85%), up from 84% in 2015-16.
  • Figure 1 shows the location of agricultural businesses in Australia:



Map: location of agricultural businesses in Australia