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In this section you will find detailed information, including national overviews and state and regional level assessments, from the 2000-2002 National Land and Water Resources Audit theme assessments.
Australia's Natural Resources
1997-2002 and beyond
National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002
Key Findings—People (incorporating economic and social considerations)
Profit at full equity is variable across the agricultural commodities.
- Over the five years to 1996/97, total profit at full equity from agriculture averaged $7.5 billion, with the commodity groups of dairy, cereals and cotton accounting for over 50% of the profit. The comparatively depressed state of the sheep industry over this period is readily apparent.
Table 10. Profit at full equity by dominant land use type.
Land use* Five-year mean
($m)1996/97
($m)Dairy 1 649 1 590 Cereals 1 305 1 836 Cotton 1 089 1 213 Fruit 951 889 Coarse grains 649 560 Vegetables 593 508 Beef 578 -718 Grapes 482 468 Sugar cane 264 167 Tree nuts 68 71 Oilseeds 63 93 Rice 48 52 Legumes 19 85 Peanuts 17 23 Tobacco 15 13 Hay 9 11 Sheep -270 -306 Total 7 530 6 555
* Figures are Australia wide including extensive and intensive agriculture. They have not been segmented industry sectors, such as intensive beef or feedlots. Profit from production from mixed farming enterprises (e.g. a wheat-sheep farm) are proportionately reported within each 'land use' class.
Profit at full equity is an indicator worthy of continued analysis.
- Since 1996/97 wool, sheep meat and beef prices and profits have recovered significantly. Undertaking regular re-analysis of profit at full equity, building on agricultural census results, will assist policy makers in understanding the comparative shifts and positions of all commodity sectors.
Figure 71. Price movements for major agricultural commodities from 1992/93 to 2000/01 with 1992/93 used as the base year.
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Managing lands for maximum Australian agricultural productivity can be concentrated in key areas.
- Of 454 million hectares used for agriculture and pastoralism, 6% is used for cultivation and intensive farming. A very small proportion of the Australian total agricultural landscape produces most of the net return to land, water, capital and management. Eighty percent of profit at full equity comes from about 4 million hectares, or less than 1% of the area used for agriculture and pastoralism in total.
Figure 72. Profit at full equity-five-year average (1992-1996).
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Figure 73. Areas in Australia accounting for 80% of profit at full equity, 1996/97.
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Productivity can also be analysed in a catchment context, providing insights to catchment management opportunities and needs.
- Fourteen river basins out of a total of 246 account for 50% of the total profits from agriculture in Australia. Many of these basins include irrigation areas. Irrigation areas, because of their small size, capital intensiveness and close attention to management, provide a unique opportunity to improve natural resource management practices.
Table 11. Contribution of river basins to total profit at full equity.
Data Source:Basin Total profit at full equity
($'000)Cumulative contribution to total for all agriculture
(%)Condamine-Culgoa Rivers 424 572 5.6 Murrumbidgee River 418 392 5.6 Namoi River 380 857 5.1 Avon River 303 668 4.0 Lower Murray River 302 864 4.0 Mallee 283 720 3.8 Border Rivers 266 110 3.5 Gwydir River 225 494 3.0 Broken River 197 455 2.6 Fitzroy River (Qld) 196 296 2.6 Goulburn River 193 330 2.6 Brisbane River 191 824 2.5 Broughton River 168 094 2.3 Macquarie-Bogan Rivers 159 375 2.1 Subtotal 3 712 051 49.3 Rest of Australia 3 817 938 50.7 Total 7 529 989 100.0
Australians and Natural Resource Management 2002 (Table 1.7, p.25)
Data used are assumed to be correct as received from the data suppliers
©Commonwealth of Australia 2001
Australian agriculture is continuously changing in a social context.
- The number of agricultural establishments or farming businesses has declined, but the average size of farms has markedly increased. These indicate a robust and market responsive agricultural sector. These trends in Australia are similar to many other developed economies.
Figure 74. Change in farm number and area (1960-2000).
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Demographics of Australian farmers is changing.
- Over the past decade, there has been an underlying trend of fewer young people entering agriculture, with a concomitant increase in the average age of farmers including the managers responsible for the natural resource management of the 60% of Australian land that is principally in agricultural or pastoral use (Figure 3). The low recruitment of younger persons may reflect adjustment decisions to move out of agriculture—an adjustment process that has been going on for many years, and is a logical response to changing technologies and markets in agriculture.
Figure 75. Number of persons with farming as their main occupation by age group 1986 and 1996.
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Australian agriculture reflects worldwide trends in terms of trade.
- Farmers' terms of trade and the net value of agricultural production have both shown strong downward trends. Farmers have responded to these changing conditions by adopting more efficient technologies.
Figure 76. Farmers' terms of trade and the real net value of agricultural production.
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Structural changes in agriculture are an inevitable consequence of economic maturity.
- Structural change occurs as any economy moves away from a heavy reliance on the primary industry sector. In Australia's case, economic dependence on agriculture has declined markedly over the past thirty years.
Figure 77. Contribution of agriculture to economic growth (GDP), employment and exports.
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Australian farm families are broadly similar to the Australian community in income distribution.
- The similarity between the income of farm families and non-farm families, including other rural families is striking. This is probably indicative of the economic maturity and continuously improving productivity of the Australian agricultural sector, mirroring the broader Australian community in characteristics.
Figure 78. Australian farm family income distribution and Australian family income distribution in 1996.
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Off-farm income has been a key response to changing economic circumstances.
- The increasing reliance of farm families on dual incomes replicates trends across the developed world. As in many other countries, the shift towards the two-income family is the middle-class norm that has taken place in the past generation. This is reinforced by an increasing trend in many developed economies towards part-time farming.
Figure 79. Annual off-farm income earned on Australian broadacre and Australian dairy farms 1980 to 1998.
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The challenge facing natural resource managers, including farmers, is to develop farming systems that are both increasingly productive and sustainable.
- Farmers' adoption of new technologies and practices is part of the move towards increasing production efficiency and improved natural resource management. Australian farmers have a long tradition of innovation and adoption of new farming practices. In evaluating options for moving towards greater sustainability, landholders generally will adopt practices that provide economic advantage (that may depend on prevailing commodity prices), but will also seek to reduce the risk of adopting a new practice by adopting those which are observable, trialable and less complex than alternative options.
- Duty of care, continuous improvement in practice, property rights and stewardship incentives are essential to deliver improved natural resource management. Partnerships across community, industry and government enable management. Information and assessments underpin management.