Australian Natural Resources Atlas

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Agriculture - Statistics - Central West (SD) (NSW)

Central West (SD) (NSW)

Location map for SD: 140

Introduction

Central West Statistical Division covers 8 per cent of the State and contains 2.79 percent of the population.

The Division lies to the west of the Blue Mountains and extends to beyond Condobolin. The eastern parts are made up of a number of discontinuous highland areas which contain the source of the Macquarie River, while the western parts are watered by the Lachlan River and undulating at first, giving way to flat plains. The Bathurst-Orange growth centre is the focal point of the region. In the cool highland region, rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, while in the plains areas the summers are warm to hot, and rainfall is moderate on the slopes, tapering off to light in the west. The Sydney-Broken Hill railway line traverses the region connecting the cities of Lithgow, Bathurst, and Orange. The Mid-Western and Mitchell Highways cross the Division, linking these cities and the urban areas of Cowra, West Wyalong, Forbes and Parkes.

The total value of building jobs approved in 1995-96 was $288 million. Approximately 41 percent of this amount was accounted for by Orange (C) with $63 million and Bathurst(C) with $56 million.

The Division contained significant agricultural activities. The area sown to wheat was equivalent to 21.8 percent of the State total. More than 59.3 percent of this was grown in two areas, Lachlan(A) with 34.5 percent and Bland(A) with 24.7 percent. The area grown to vegetables in the Division accounted for 8.8 percent of the State total, 60.1 percent of which were located in Cowra(A). Agricultural activities in sheep and lambs, and cattle and calves were conducted throughout the Division and represented 9.4 percent of the State's flock and 17.21 percent of the herd respectively.

Manufacturing activity in 1993-94 concentrated in two areas, Orange(C) with 68 establishments and Bathurst(C) with 66 establishments. Together they represent 42.7 percent of the manufacturing establishments, 61.5 percent of employment in manufacturing, and 59.1 percent of turnover from manufacturing activities for the Division.

The figures reported here are a subset of the Agricultural Census data from 1982/1983 to 1996/1997 published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, AgStats). The data has been analysed by the Bureau of Rural Sciences using a consistent geographic base. Further information about the data is available from the Australian Spatial Data Directory

The figures and text are reproduced with permission of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, © Commonwealth of Australia, 2000.

Statistics

Area of region (ha): 6,303,523.25

Area

Agroforestry

Apples

Berry Fruit

Cattle and Calves

Cereals excluding Rice

Citrus

Cotton

Grapes

Legumes

Oilseeds

Other Livestock

Other Non-Cereal Crops

Other Vegetables

Pastures

Pears

Pigs

Plantation Fruit

Potatoes

Poultry

Sales of Livestock

Sheep and Lambs

Stone Fruit

Further information

Please Note: Not all the selected data items are available for every year or for every statistical region.

The figures reported here are a subset of the Agricultural Census data from 1982/1983 to 1996/1997 published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, AgStats). The data have been analysed by Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia to report them using a consistent geographic base. Further information about the data is available through the Australian Spatial Data Directory.

The subset includes 436 data items for plant production and 40 data items for livestock which were commonly available in the AgStats database over the 15 year period and each year for respondents having an Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) above the cut-off of $22,500.

The data have been concorded by bringing data collected using different geographies to a consistent geographic base, being Version 2.6 Statistical Local Area (SLA) boundaries (ABS, 1996) and using the non-agricultural lands mask from the National Land and Water Resources Audit's National Landuse Map (1996/1997).

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