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RECENT ECONOMIC STATISTICS

Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2008-09

Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 7121.0) was released on 9 April 2010.

This publication contains final estimates for the main commodities collected in the 2008-09 Agricultural Survey. Included are statistics on land use, industry activity, crop and horticultural area and production, and livestock numbers. Data will be available for a range of sub-state geographic levels, including Natural Resource Management (NRM) region and Statistical Division (SD). The data are based on a response rate of 88% from a sample of approximately 38,000 agricultural businesses selected for the 2008-09 Agricultural Survey. The estimates in this publication are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006 edition, which was adopted for the first time in 2005-06.

Some data for Queensland:

• In 2009, the total area of farms was 141,210,000 ha with 2,795,000 ha planted to crops. Expansion of the area of non-agricultural land has meant that the total area of farms has declined (from 143,871,000 ha in 2007), however the total area planted to crops has increased (from 2,215,000 ha in 2007).
• In 2008-09, there were 25,136 businesses with agriculture as the main activity. Beef cattle farming and feedlots was the largest industry with 12,452 businesses, followed by sugar cane growing with 3,365 businesses.
• In 2008-09, the largest broadacre crop production was 29,842,000 tonnes of sugar cane cut for crushing, followed by 2,016,000 tonnes of wheat and 1,771,000 tonnes of grain sorghum.
• In 2008-09, there were 246,725 tonnes of bananas grown, 55,890 tonnes of mandarins, 27,079 tonnes on mangoes and 25,480 tonnes of apples.
• Tomatoes recorded the largest production of all vegetables with 138,153 tonnes followed by potatoes (97,590 tonnes), carrots (29,940 tonnes) and onions(28,908 tonnes).
• There were 12,332,000 cattle and calves (99% meat cattle), 4,285,000 sheep and lambs, 596,000 pigs and 19,246,000 chickens (82% for meat production).

• Total state and local government taxation per person in 2008-09 was $2,544, down 6.4% from $2,718 in 2007-08.
• Employers payroll taxes amounted to $2,741 million in 2008-09, up 11% from 2007-08.
• Stamp duties totalled $2,279 million in 2008-09, down 38% from $3,659 million in 2007-08.
• Total state and local government taxation amounted to $11,257 million in 2008-09, down 3.9% from $11,711 million in 2007-08.

• In 2008-09, total operating expenses on education by state and local governments amounted to $8,195 million, up 8.6% from the $7,548 million spent in 2007-08. Operating expenses of primary and secondary education totalled $6,375 million in 2008-09, up 9.6% from $5,818 million in 2007-08.
• Employee expenses were the largest of operating expenses ($4,704 million in 2008-09), which was 57% of total operating expenses.
• Gross fixed capital formation on education for 2008-09 totalled $590 million, $467 million of which was spent on primary and secondary education. Corresponding figures for 2007-08 were $597 million in total, and $401 million spent on primary and secondary education.

• In 2008-09, the GFS net operating balance was $42 million, up from the GFS net operating balance of -$1,549 million in 2007-08.
• GFS net borrowing in 2008-09 was $4,393 million, down from net borrowing of $5,217 million in 2007-08.
• In 2008-09, Queensland had a cash deficit of 2,860 million, down from a cash deficit of $5,099 million in 2007-08.
• GFS net worth was $180,690 million in 2008-09, up from $155,176 million in 2007-08.
• In 2008-09, health was the largest state general government expense with $9,248 million spent, followed by education ($8,197 million) transport and communication ($4,643 million) and public order and safety ($3,172 million).