Indicator: LD-08 Average tonnage and value of food produced per hectare of land under food production

Data

14.12 Selected crops, area, production and gross value
		Area			Production			Gross value
		1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
		'000 ha	'000 ha	'000 ha	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	$m	$m	$m
Cereals for grain
	Barley	2,596	3,454	3,707	5,032	6,743	8,280	865	1,343	1,725
	Grain sorghum	622	758	823	2,116	1,935	2,021	260	279	349
	Maize	82	74	83	406	345	454	62	65	90
	Oats	584	650	784	1,118	1,050	1,434	118	138	251
	Rice	131	177	144	1,084	1,643	1,192	289	350	327
	Wheat	12,168	12,141	11,529	24,757	22,108	24,299	4,831	5,130	6,356
	Lupins for grain	1,347	1,180	1,139	1,968	1,055	1,215	286	217	304
Crops cut for hay
	Cereal crops for hay	357	419	434	1,429	1,657	1,716	146	184	204
	Non-cereal crops for hay	47	42	^41	159	115	124	^25	17	19
Other crops
	Sugar cane cut for crushing	428	403	426	38,165	28,117	31,424	882	657	989
	Tobacco	3	2	^ 2	8	6	6	^ 49	39	37
	Cotton	435	536	458	698	666	675	1,416	1,305	1,327
	Peanuts (in shell)	20	17	^ 15	40	39	^ 29	^ 27	28	^ 21
	Soybean	56	33	32	104	49	63	36	18	^ 22
	Canola	1,911	1,459	1,332	2,460	1,775	1,756	760	545	675
	Sunflower	162	82	79	170	77	70	64	27	^ 27
Orchard fruit
	Oranges	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	510	550	451	276	277	281
	Apples	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	320	325	321	274	282	348
	Pears (excl. Nashi)	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	156	169	145	72	90	99
	Peaches	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	86	74	89	74	73	76
	Other fruit
	Bananas	12	12	13	257	358	313	284	409	415
	Pineapples	3	3	3	139	120	119	44	44	40
	Grapes	111	131	143	1,311	1,546	1,754	1,118	1,518	1,578
Vegetables
	Carrots	7	8	8	283	321	331	154	189	199
	Potatoes	37	40	38	1,200	1,302	1,333	382	458	485
	Tomatoes	8	10	8	414	556	425	190	257	^ 230
All crops (excl. pastures and grasses)		23,769	24,520	24,060	84390	72701	80039	16,316	17,759	20,625

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, ABS Yearbook Australia: Agricultural Crops.

More detailed information can be found in:

Agricultural Commodities (PDF - 302 KB)

In 2003, just under 60 per cent of Australian land was used for agriculture (including grazing but excluding forestry). 5% was used for crops and a further 5% for sown pasture.

Source: ABS Yearbook Australia: Agriculture: Land used for agriculture.

42 Production of meat
	Carcass weight						Dressed weight
	Beef	Veal	Mutton	Lamb	Pig meat	Total red meat	Chicken meat	Total poultry(a)
	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes	'000 tonnes
1997-98	1,911	44	333	284	358	2,930	544	587
1998-99	1,973	38	316	312	370	3,009	564	607
1999-2000	1,952	36	333	347	363	3,031	598	638
2000-01	2,086	33	348	367	365	3,200	619	657
2001-02	1,996	31	296	348	396	3,067	667	705
2002-03	2,035	38	268	329	420	3,090	690	726
(a) Includes other fowls, turkeys, ducks and drakes.

ABS - Livestock Products, Australia (7215.0).

The following table is useful for showing the relative contributions of various animals to total weight of meat produced in Australia.

Contributions of various animals to total weight of meat produced in Australia
Year	Beef	Veal	Mutton	Lamb	Pig meat	Chicken meat
	% of total meat weight	% of total meat weight	% of total meat weight	% of total meat weight	% of total meat weight	% of total meat weight
1997-98	55	1	10	8	10	16
1998-99	55	1	9	9	10	16
1999-00	54	1	9	10	10	16
2000-01	55	1	9	10	10	16
2001-02	53	1	8	9	11	18
2002-03	54	1	7	9	11	18

Source: Derived from Livestock Products, Australia (7215.0), ABS data available on request, Poultry and Game Birds Slaughtered Collection

14.44 Gross value of livestock slaughterings and other disposals
	Cattle and calves	Sheep and lambs	Pigs	Poultry	Total(a)
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
1996-97	3,597.0	1,042.6	764.8	932.0	6,376.3
1997-98	4,138.2	1,066.2	709.8	1,053.6	6,991.9
1998-99	4,476.6	1,053.5	689.7	1,018.5	7,255.8
1999-2000	5,048.7	1,053.5	791.7	1,030.8	7,944.2
2000-01	6,430.6	1,401.8	822.3	1,060.2	9,737.8
2001-02	7,142.4	2,117.6	967.7	1,174.9	11,434.5
(a) Includes value of other livestock.

ABS - Agriculture, Australia (7113.0); Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, Preliminary (7501.0)

Year Book Australia - Meat production and slaughterings (Word - 209 KB)

From the above data, the following table of trends in weight and value of meat can be derived.

Meat Tonnage and Value
Year	Tonnes (dressed weight) 000	Value $m	Value $m per 000 tonne dressed weight
1996-97	3517	6376.3	1.81
1997-98	3616	6991.9	1.9
1998-99	3669	7255.2	2.0
1999-00	3857	7944.2	2.06
2000-01	3772	9737.8	2.58
2001-02	3816	11434.5	3.0

The following total value of the land’s contribution to the human food supply can be derived. It also shows the comparative economic value of meat and food crops.

Total: meat and crops
Year	Crop value $m	Crop value per 000 tonne	Meat value $m	Meat value per 000 tonne	Total Value $m
1999-00	14680	0.18	7944.2	2.06	22624.2
2000-01	16214	0.23	9737.8	2.58	25951.8
2001-02	19038	0.25	11434.5	3.0	30472.5

Data on production trends in eggs and dairy products not found.

More up to date data may be available from time to time from: ABARE

Projected age and number of Australian farmers 1996-2021 using fast and slow adjustment scenarios

Source: National Land and Water Resources Audit 2002, Australians and Natural Resource Management: An Overview-Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

These data on the land’s contribution of food to human life are not environmentally significant in their own right but provide a baseline for tracking changes in the contribution of food from land sources to human life which may result from either the declining condition of the resource or from societal responses to that decline. It will be useful to track changes in the amount and value of different types of food produced against future declines and/or improvements in the aspects of the land environment that are vulnerable to degradation, including degradation as a result of agricultural and pastoral production.

Dollar value per tonne, and overall dollar value, of both plant and animal based foods have increased since 1999-00. The tonnage of crops produced, the hectares used for crop production and the total dressed weight of meat have all decreased slightly in the same period, although tonnage of meat produced has increased since 1996-97 (crop data does not go back to 1996-97).

The farmer numbers and age projections data are contextual data for this indicator. The number of farmers is projected to drop while the median age of farmers continues to increase.

Data Limitations

Dates and corresponding data are not entirely comparable for the different types of food produced. The number of hectares used in meat production is not currently available, even though extensive meat production could be expected to use considerably more land per tonne or dollar value of food produced than crop production.

No data was found in relation to quantity and value of eggs or dairy products produced in Australia.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Land - Contributions of land to human life - Living materials from the land

The tonnage and value of food that the land is currently producing, by the area of land used to produce it, is one way of tracking the contribution of the land to the human food supply in the context of the area of land on which the food production places pressure.

The indicator includes both exported and domestically consumed food, since the exported food contributes to national income. This income in turn contributes to the purchase of all the additional food consumed in Australia which is not produced domestically. The indicator also includes food used for companion animal consumption, as these animals are an aspect of human life to which the land contributes. As far as possible, however, it excludes food grown as feed for meat, egg or dairy producing animals, as this would be double counting.

Other indicators for this issue:

Human Settlements - Services provided by the environment to human settlements - Agriculture

The food consumed in human settlements in Australia derives primarily from the land, most of it from agriculture.

Other indicators for this issue:

LD-09 Average tonnage and value of other (non-food) agricultural products per hectare of land under production

Further Information

Gross value of agricultural commodities produced (Word - 210 KB)

Key

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State of the Environment

2006