In spite of Australia's harsh environment, agriculture is the most extensive form of land use. At 30 June 2003, the estimated total area of establishments with agricultural activity was 439.5 million hectares (ha), representing about 57% of the total land area (tables 14.1 and 14.2). The remainder of the land area consists 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.
There has been a small decline in the overall area of establishments with agricultural activity in recent years. The reasons for this are varied. They include the resumption of some private land for national parks; the splitting up of farms, some to smaller farms (urban sprawl is a part of this process); the conversion of agricultural land to other business activities, such as forestry; and the transfer of land to Aboriginal ownership, some of which is no longer used for agricultural purposes.
Livestock grazing accounts for the largest area of land use in agriculture, with approximately 340 million ha, or in excess of 75% of all agricultural land, being used for this activity. In the higher rainfall and irrigated areas, livestock grazing has led to the replacement of large areas of native vegetation with more productive introduced pastures and grasses, many of which have now become naturalised.
At 30 June 2003 approximately 5% of total agricultural land was under crops, with a further 5% under sown pastures and grasses.
14.1 AGRICULTURAL LAND USE - 30 June
|
 | Area of
crops | Area of establishments
with agricultural activity | Proportion of
Australian land area |
| mill. ha | mill. ha | % |
|
| 1998(a) | 21.5 | 463.8 | 60.3 |
| 1999(a) | 23.3 | 453.7 | 59.0 |
| 2000 | 23.8 | 455.5 | 59.2 |
| 2001 | 24.5 | 455.7 | 59.2 |
| 2002 | 24.1 | 447.0 | 58.1 |
| 2003 | 23.6 | 439.5 | 57.1 |
|
(a) 31 March.
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (7121.0). |
14.2 AREA OF ESTABLISHMENTS WITH AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY - 30 June
|
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | Aust.(a) |
| mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha | mill. ha |
|
| 1998(b) | 60.3 | 12.7 | 148.2 | 57.5 | 115.8 | 1.9 | 67.3 | 463.8 |
| 1999(b) | 59.3 | 12.8 | 140.3 | 59.4 | 113.1 | 1.9 | 66.9 | 453.7 |
| 2000 | 62.1 | 13.3 | 145.4 | 59.9 | 105.6 | 1.8 | 67.5 | 455.5 |
| 2001 | 61.0 | 13.2 | 146.0 | 57.3 | 109.2 | 1.9 | 67.1 | 455.7 |
| 2002 | 63.4 | 12.8 | 141.4 | 53.5 | 109.0 | 1.8 | 65.2 | 447.0 |
| 2003 | 65.1 | 13.4 | 139.0 | 54.1 | 102.7 | 1.8 | 63.3 | 439.5 |
|
(a) Includes ACT.
(b) 31 March.
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (7121.0). |
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