Farmers getting older as their acreages decline

Farmers getting older as their acreages decline
Jonathan ChancellorJune 21, 2011

Land devoted to farming continues to decline, with 52% of Australia's total land area now devoted to agriculture, a 4% decrease in the two years since 2007-08, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Tasmania has the lowest proportion, with just 24% of state set aside for agricultural business.

The highest usage was Queensland, with 75% of the state set aside for farming.

The largest change in land managed by agricultural businesses was in the Northern Territory, where such land has decreased by 13% since 2007-08.

The ABS says Australia has 134,553 agricultural businesses over a total 398,580,000 hectares.

The land is overseen by farmers who are typically aged 55 and have owned and managed the business for 23 years, according to Land Management and Farming in Australia, 2009-10. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the median age of farmers in farm families was 52 in 2006, highlighting the issue of succession plans for Australian farmers.

Grazing property dominates, with some 78% of agricultural businesses devoted to grazing activities, an 8% increase since 2007-08.

Grazing was the most common activity in all states, except South Australia, where cropping activity was most common at 72%.

Nationally, 88% of agricultural land was used for grazing, and of this, 15% was on improved pasture and 73% on other agricultural land.

Nationally, almost half (48%) of all agricultural businesses in Australia were also engaged in cropping activities.

Some 17% of agriculture businesses were engaged in horticulture.

The data are estimates from the 2009-10 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, which got a response rate of 87% from about 38,000 agricultural businesses.

In 2007-08, approximately 54% of Australia's total land area was managed by agricultural businesses. The state with the lowest proportion of land managed by agricultural businesses was Tasmania (23% of state area), and the highest was Queensland (82% of state area) in 2007-2008.

Grazing land accounted for 87% of land managed by agricultural businesses in the previous survey, which included both grazing on improved pasture (16% of agricultural land use) and other grazing land (71% of agricultural land use). Other agricultural land use included 8% for cropping in 2007-2008.

The latest survey found in 2009-10, about 60,000 agricultural businesses prepared land for crops or horticulture, covering 25.1 million hectares. The majority (54%) of these businesses reported that they did not undertake cultivation. Almost half (29,000) of businesses undertook two cultivation passes or fewer with only 19% (11,000 businesses) reporting three or more cultivations.

Nationally 19 million hectares was prepared using zero-till, compared with 5 million hectares prepared using one or two cultivation passes. Western Australia performed zero-till on the largest area of land prepared for crops and pastures (7 million hectares) and the Northern Territory the smallest area (1,000 hectares).

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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