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AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

Australia's average elevation is the lowest of any continent, with a mean elevation just exceeding 200 metres. The dominant topographical feature of the continent is the Great Dividing Range, which spans the length of the eastern seaboard and has a profound influence on regional weather patterns and land use.

Australia's agricultural landscapes support a wide range of soils. Most are ancient, strongly weathered and infertile by world standards, with deficiencies in phosphorus and nitrogen. Those on floodplains are younger and more fertile. Very few are considered good quality soils for agriculture. To offset nutrient deficiencies, superphosphate and nitrogenous fertilisers are widely used, particularly on pasture and cereal crops. Fragile soil structure and a susceptibility to waterlogging are other common features of Australian soils, while large areas are naturally affected by salt or acidity. These soil characteristics restrict particular agricultural activities, sometimes ruling out agricultural activity altogether.

With the exception of Antarctica, Australia is the world's driest continent. More than a third of the continent is effectively desert; over two-thirds of the continent is classified as arid or semi-arid. The wet summer conditions of northern Australia are suited to beef cattle grazing in inland areas and the growing of sugar and tropical fruits in coastal areas. The drier summer conditions of southern Australia favour wheat and other dryland cereal farming, sheep grazing and dairy cattle (in the higher rainfall areas), as well as beef cattle. Within regions there is also a high degree of rainfall variability from year-to-year, which is most pronounced in the arid and semi-arid regions.

Rainfall variability is very high by global standards and often results in lengthy periods without rain. In the last five years, Australia has experienced two of the worst droughts on record - indeed, in some parts, one long drought lasting several years has been the experience. The years 2002-03 and 2006-07 have provided the most widespread hardship, with record high temperatures and dry conditions in the early months of 2005 also bringing severe drought to many regions. As a consequence, these adverse conditions have in some years resulted in lower commodity production levels and financial performance.

This variability, and seasonality of rainfall in Australia requires that water be stored. Under normal seasonal conditions, the ability of primary producers to store water ensures there are adequate supplies for those agricultural activities requiring a continuous supply. The development of large-scale irrigation schemes has opened up areas of inland Australia to agricultural activities which otherwise would not have been possible.

Evaporation is another important element of Australia's environment affecting agricultural production. Hot summers are accompanied by an abundance of sunlight. This combination of climatic variables leads to high rates of evaporation. Areas that have been cleared for crop and pasture production tend to coincide with areas that receive five to nine months of effective rainfall (where rainfall exceeds evaporation) each year. In areas of effective rainfall of more than nine months, generally only higher value crops or tropical crops and fruits are grown, while in areas with effective rainfall of less than five months, cropping is usually restricted to areas that are irrigated.

Since European settlement the vegetation of Australia has altered significantly. In particular, large areas of Australia's forest and woodland vegetation systems have been cleared, predominantly for agricultural activity. The areas that have been altered most are those which have been opened up to cultivation or intensive grazing. Other areas, particularly those semi-arid regions previously cleared of timber and scrub to allow extensive grazing of native grasses, now show signs of returning to their previous condition. In recent years various state and territory legislation has seen restrictions applied to the area of old growth and regrowth forest and woodland that can be cleared without a permit.

For more details see the Geography and climate chapter.


Land used

In spite of Australia's harsh environment, agriculture is the most extensive form of land use. At 30 June 2006, the estimated total area of establishments with agricultural activity was 442.8 million hectares (mill. ha), representing about 58% of the total land area - 5% of which had been cropped. Queensland had 154.1 mill. ha devoted to agricultural activity while Western Australia and New South Wales had 99.2 mill. ha and 61.2 mill. ha respectively (graph 16.1). Land area not used for agriculture consisted of unoccupied land (mainly desert in western and central Australia), Aboriginal land reserves (mainly located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia), forests, mining leases, national parks and urban areas.

16.1 Area of establishments with agricultural activity - 30 June 2006

16.2 PASTURES AND CROPS IRRIGATED - 2005-06
		NSW(a)	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	Aust.
Area Irrigated ('000ha)
Pastures (native or sown)
	For grazing	250	404	51	53	13	41	* -	811
	For seed production	7	12	2	20	*np	np	-	44
	For hay and silage	72	81	34	17	2	5	* -	211
Cereal crops
	Cut for hay	33	14	13	2	^np	^np	*np	62
	For grain or seed(b)	209	28	40	6	3	4	-	291
	Not for grain or seed	14	4	8	1	* -	1	-	28
Rice		98	2	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	100
Sugar cane		^1	(c) -	217	(c) -	4	(c) -	(c) -	222
Cotton		171	(c) -	105	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	277
Other broadacre crops(d)		31	5	10	2	3	5	-	56
Fruit trees, nut trees, plantations or berry fruits		30	33	40	19	9	3	4	140
Vegetables for human consumption		18	26	40	14	9	14	1	121
Vegetables for seed		1	2	^ -	1	^ -	1	-	5
Nurseries, cut flowers or cultivated turf		5	4	5	1	2	np	np	17
Grapevines		41	38	3	83	13	1	-	180
Total(e)		986	657	572	219	62	80	6	2 583
Volume applied (ML)
Pastures (native or sown)
	For grazing	692 940	1 566 316	148 179	265 079	84 384	114 440	^49	2 871 388
	For seed production	^22 472	27 402	^5 941	94 077	*np	np	-	154 137
	For hay and silage	273 239	258 288	144 937	77 863	^10 073	10 685	*2 246	777 330
Cereal crops
	Cut for hay	77 924	27 022	^37 842	6 709	^np	^np	*np	149 953
	For grain or seed(b)	517 876	55 781	95 446	^8 385	^13 018	6 962	-	697 468
	Not for grain or seed	30 603	8 907	16 851	^1 637	*867	1 653	-	60 518
Rice		1 209 492	20 888	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	1 230 379
Sugar cane		^2 512	(c) -	1 040 929	(c) -	^60 361	(c) -	(c) -	1 103 802
Cotton		1 120 188	(c) -	626 198	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	(c) -	1 746 386
Other broadacre crops(d)		98 609	11 228	26 137	6 816	^9 002	10 916	-	162 707
Fruit trees, nut trees, plantations or berry fruits		135 466	191 810	133 975	146 063	50 133	5 146	12 673	675 265
Vegetables for human consumption		74 584	88 978	107 562	83 075	53 748	40 317	2 304	450 567
Vegetables for seed		^3 018	4 714	^400	^3 151	^1 112	2 417	-	14 812
Nurseries, cut flowers or cultivated turf		27 935	14 155	26 407	5 859	14 973	^np	^np	91 645
Grapevines		176 848	186 820	^15 936	225 875	17 409	1 194	1 573	625 655
Total(e)		4 472 617	2 470 542	2 435 215	927 264	317 703	201 822	19 546	10 844 708
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Includes ACT.
(b) Excludes rice.
(c) Data not collected.
(d) Excludes sugar cane and cotton.
(e) Includes pastures or crops n.e.c.
Source: Water Use on Australian Farms (4618.0).