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Five fruitful years for grapes, canola
21 Aug 2003
Grapes and canola have been the boom crops for Australia's agricultural sector over the past five years, with the value of production for both almost doubling, according to the Bureau of Statistics. In 2002, Australian farmers planted 1.75 million tonnes of grapes compared with 0.9 million tonnes in 1997. Canola plantings rose from 623,000 tonnes in 1997 to 1.8 million tonnes in 2002.
In a review of the farming sector for the five years to 2002, the Bureau of Statistics said that overall the number of farms fell from 145,000 in 1997 to 135,000 in 2002. The number of farms turning over more than $1 million a year increased from 3,351 to 4,351, indicating ongoing consolidation.
Meat cattle numbers also increased over the period, by about 1 million, and the number of beef producers rose from 32,817 to 34,110 in 2002. Cotton and sugarcane growers showed a high level of consolidation, however: in 1997 there were 966 cotton-growing operations but by 2002 the number had fallen to 697. Sugarcane grower numbers fell from 5,023 to 4,747.
Australian Financial Review, 21/8/03.
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