How has farming changed over the past five years?
31 March 2023
Key points:
- MLA has conducted a review of the ABS Agricultural Census data from 2016–2021 to identify trends across all farming enterprises.
- The number of sheep enterprises rose by 2% and the number of sheep increased by half a million head.
- The number of businesses running cattle has grown by 1.6%.
- Five shires in Australia – Forbes, Bendigo, Wagga Wagga, Corowa and Goondiwindi – use equal amounts of agricultural land for crop production and grazing.
An MLA review of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Agriculture Census data from 2016–2021 has identified several trends across mixed enterprise businesses.
Sheep
From 2016–2021, the number of properties running sheep increased by 703, or 2%, to 31,839. The number of sheep in Australia also increased by half a million head, from 67.5m head to 68m head.
This is contrary to many reports that the number of sheep, and number of sheep businesses, in Australia is in structural decline.
However, the number of sheep held per property did fall slightly, down 30 head per property, from 2,169 sheep to 2,137 head.
Cattle
Over the past five years, the number of businesses running cattle has grown 1.6%, or 736 farms, to 47,757.
However, the number of cattle per enterprise eased by half a million head, or 2%, causing the number of cattle to fall to 511 head per business.
These cattle figures were impacted by the 2017–2019 drought.
Cropping
Between 2016 and 2021, there was a 12% increase in the area of land planted to wheat, despite only a marginal increase in the number of properties growing wheat – up 1% from 18,893 to 19,120.
This means producers, harnessing strong growing conditions in the past few years, have dedicated more land to wheat and cereal crops. This has led to the area of wheat planted to grow (on a per hectare basis) from 64ha to 661ha, an increase of 10.7%.
The land planted for cropping was:
- oats – 30%
- barley – 34%
- sorghum – 10%
- canola – 25%
- lentils – 123%
- lupins – 13%.
The plantings of chickpeas, maize, sugarcane and cotton fell in the 2016–2021 period.
Mixed farming areas
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t WA, Victoria or SA that represent Australia’s mixed enterprise heartland.
The most recent ABS Agricultural Census data identified that there were only five shires in Australia – Forbes, Bendigo, Wagga Wagga, Corowa and Goondiwindi – that truly had equal amounts of agricultural land used for crop production and grazing.
However, there are 93 shire areas that operate in within the 40%–60% grazing land parameters – which would classify them as mixed enterprise regions.
Looking ahead
It is important that the agricultural industry stays up-to-date on trends in mixed enterprises and that producers understand why certain changes are occurring, as this can help them to make better decisions around allocating their limited resources – land and water.
