7121.0 - Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2008-09 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 09/04/2010   
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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS INDUSTRY STRUCTURE


BUSINESSES WITH AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY

Table 2 of this publication categorises businesses with agricultural activity into the industry that represents the business' main activity, using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 edition.

The 2008-09 Agricultural Survey revealed that the number of businesses undertaking agricultural activity had fallen to a total of 136 thousand businesses. This represents a 3% decrease compared to 2007-08.

The beef cattle farming industry remained the largest sector in 2008-09, comprising nearly a third of businesses classified to the agriculture industry. The mixed farming sector (grain-sheep/grain-beef cattle) represented the next largest sector, accounting for 11% of businesses in the agriculture industry.

Other notable movements in 2008-09 were the decrease in the number of businesses in the dairy cattle farming industry (down 12%) and the doubling of the number of businesses in the rice growing industry since 2007-08.

The number of non-agricultural businesses which undertook agricultural activity during 2008-09 remained steady at an estimated 15 thousand businesses.