THE map of Australia’s agriculture released this week by ABARES shows cotton was the most profitable crop per tonne produced and per hectare sown in 2015-16, while sugar cane was the highest yielding per hectare.

(Click on map to enlarge)

ABARES executive director, Steve Hatfield-Dodds, said the ‘Australia’s Agricultural Industries 2017 map’ provides an overview of the Australian agricultural landscape.

“The gross value of farm production was more than $63 billion in 2016-17, reflecting record production,” Dr Hatfield-Dodds said.

“The top two commodities by gross value of production in 2015-16, were beef and veal (cattle and calves) at $13.1 billion, and wheat at $6.2 billion.

“For horticulture, grapes had the highest gross value of production, while almonds were the most profitable per tonne produced, and potatoes had the highest yield per hectare in 2015-16.

“Agriculture covers 58 per cent of Australia’s land mass. The largest agricultural land use is grazing of native vegetation at 45 per cent, with 90 per cent occurring on leasehold land.

“In contrast, other agricultural land uses tend to occur on freehold land (at 82-94 per cent).

“Agricultural products accounted for 15 per cent of Australia’s total exports in 2015-16, with the top five export destinations being China, United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia.

“The top five commodities exported (by value) were beef and veal, wheat, wool, dairy and wine.”

The ‘Australia’s Agricultural Industries 2017 map‘ draws on ABARES data holdings on land use and agricultural commodities and its analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) surveyed data.

Source: ABARES