1304.5 - Stats Talk WA (Newsletter), Jun 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/07/2007   
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Agriculture

Releases from the 2006 Agricultural Census

In 2006, the ABS conducted a census of 185,000 agricultural businesses. This is the largest mail out collection the ABS undertakes and the second largest collection apart from the 5 yearly Population Census. As a part of the ongoing effort to improve the coverage and quality of agricultural statistics, the 2005-06 Agricultural Census adopted the Australian Taxation Office’s Australian Business Register as the new frame for the collection.

The first publication from the Agricultural Census, Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary (ABS cat. no. 7111.0), was released on 17 May and was based on a response rate of 91%. It included state and territory production and area figures for broad acre crops such as wheat, barley and rice, as well as livestock numbers for cattle, sheep, lambs and pigs.

Preliminary Agricultural Statistics for WA
In 2005-06, Western Australia was Australia’s largest wheat producer with 9.4 million tonnes of wheat; 37% of the total Australian wheat production (25.4 million tonnes).

Western Australia was also the largest producer of lupins for grain (83%) and canola (45%), while it was the second largest producer of oats for grain (36%) and barley for grain (26%).

Western Australia had the second largest number of sheep and lambs of any state or territory (23.0 million); 25% of all Australian sheep and lambs.

Further Releases
There are additional publications planned for release during 2007 based on data from the 2005-06 Agricultural Census.

Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced - Preliminary (ABS cat. no. 7501.0) was released 25 June 2007. This release provides preliminary estimates of the gross value of production of selected crops, livestock slaughterings, and livestock products at the state and national level for 2005-06.

Selected Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary (ABS cat. no. 7112.0) will be released towards the end of July. It will contain estimates of all commodities at the state level, including a greater range of crop, horticulture and livestock statistics.

Water Use on Australian Farms (ABS cat. no. 4618.0) will be released in August. It will contain estimates of agricultural irrigation water use by crop, other agricultural water use and water sources at the Australian and state levels. Regional level water data will be released later in the year.

Agricultural Commodities, Australia (ABS cat. no. 7121.0) will be released in late 2007. It will include final data for all commodities, as well as statistics on the number of agricultural businesses (size, industry and the estimated value of agricultural operations).

As a supplement to 7121.0, a number of datasets containing small area data (Statistical Division and Statistical Local Area) will be released on the ABS website.

The ABS also plans to release a range of sub-state geographic level data in early 2008. These outputs will generally be available as spreadsheets, data suitable for use in Geographic Information Systems, and possibly as maps. Standard outputs will be produced to approximate as closely as possible various regional structures such as river basins and Natural Resource Management regions.

Customised Services
The ABS can customise a product to meet your specific policy, planning, research and commercial analysis needs. ABS consultants are experts in producing customised tables. For further information, call the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Daniel Lester on (03) 6222 5943.