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FIRST ESTIMATES FROM 2008-09 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY


On 10 November 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the first set of results from the 2008-09 Agricultural Survey. The publication Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary, 2008-09 (cat. no. 7111.0)contains preliminary estimates - based on a response rate of 79% - of principal agricultural commodities and livestock numbers for 2008-09, presented for states/territories and Australia. National comparative data for the previous two years are also available.

The 2008-09 Agricultural Survey collected a greater range of agricultural commodities and livestock breakdowns than the 2007-08 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). Generally speaking, results show that while improved seasonal conditions saw increases in production of some major broadacre crops in 2008-09, livestock numbers remained flat or continued their falls of recent years.

More specifically, production of wheat for grain rose 54% to 20.9 million tonnes, canola rose 53%, cotton lint was up 155% and rice production more than tripled to 63 thousand tonnes -- but is still at historically low levels. In 2008-09, the number of sheep and lambs fell to 71.6 million head, its lowest level since 1905 while pig numbers fell 7% to a 30 year low.

This publication is the first in a suite of releases providing estimates of different aspects of farming in Australia using data collected in the 2008-09 Agricultural Survey. Due to improvements in the processing and dissemination of these data, publication dates have been brought forward from those originally announced. The timetable below shows the updated release schedule for all 2008-09 Agricultural Survey output.

Title	Catalogue no.	Anticipated release date
Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary, 2008-09	7501.0	09 February 2010
Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Final, 2008-09	7121.0	09 April 2010
Water use on Australian Farms, Australia, 2008-09	4618.0	19 April 2010
Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, 2008-09	7503.0	June 2010

For more information please contact Nigel Gibson on (03) 6222 5940. Please note that the full range of final commodity data will be published in Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0) in April 2010.