7113.0 - Agriculture, Australia, 1996-97  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/07/1998   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All
  • About this Release
  • Results of the latest Agricultural Census on new CD product (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

July 21, 1998
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
77/98
Results of the latest Agricultural Census on new CD product

Australia's cattle herds are at their highest level for nearly twenty years at 26.8 million head, according to the final results of the 1996-97 Agricultural Census released today on a new CD-ROM product, CD AgStats.

Other results of the 1996-97 Agricultural Census found in CD AgStats show farmers grew a record 22.9 million tonnes of wheat while the sugar cane harvest was also a record at 38.6 million tonnes.

The new CD AgStats allows analysts, policy makers and forecasters a closer look at agricultural levels and trends in regional areas (including shires) for over 800 data items covering area and production of crops; pastures; livestock numbers; area of crops irrigated; use of fertilisers and issues relating to land management practices.

The new CD version of AgStats replaces the previous floppy disk version and is based on the software used on the Integrated Regional Database (IRDB) providing the same easy data access, searching and indexing facilities. An optional mapping module is available as an analytical tool in presenting selected data in easy to understand thematic maps.

A simple search of CD AgStats reveals that in 1996-97, the farmers of the Moree Plains produced more wheat than any other shire in Australia (1.04 million tonnes) while graziers in the shire of South Grampians - excluding Wannan and Hamilton - ran the most sheep and lambs (1.93 million). In Queensland, the graziers of Dalrymple mustered 454,000 cattle, 72,000 more than the next most bovine dense shire of Banana.

Users of agricultural data should note that with the Agricultural Census being discontinued and replaced by a sample survey from 1997-98, small area data will not be available until 2003 for the 2001-02 Census. Between Censuses, survey results will be released electronically on the IRDB at the State and Agro Ecological Region level .

Agricultural Census data for 1996-97 aggregated to the State level are due for release on hardcopy in the next few weeks in Agriculture Australia 1996-97 (cat. no. 7113.0)