MEDIA RELEASE
19 June 2014	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	78/2014

Just under 99 per cent of Australian farm businesses are fully Australian owned and just under 90 per cent of farmland is fully Australian owned, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

"Our 2013 survey found that while there has been an increase in the area of farmland owned by businesses with some level of foreign investment, by far the majority remains Australian owned," said Bruce Hockman from the ABS.

"The survey also confirmed that large businesses continue to account for the majority of foreign owned farm land, with less than 50 businesses accounting for 95 per cent of the total area of foreign owned farm land in Australia.

"Of the 400 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia, nearly 50 million hectares had some level of foreign ownership; this is up by around 5 million hectares, an increase of 11 per cent on the 2010 result.

"Water entitlements for farm businesses with some level of overseas ownership increased significantly, with most of this increase happening in Queensland." said Mr Hockman.

Water entitlements totalled more than 13 million megalitres in 2013, with more than 11 million megalitres being wholly Australian owned, and nearly 2 million megalitres going to those with some level of foreign ownership (up 55 per cent).

More details can be found in Agricultural Land and Water Ownership, June 2013 (cat. no. 7127.0).

Media notes:

• When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source
• Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070