Crops(a) '000 ha	Agricultural land(b) '000 ha	Non-agricultural land(c) '000 ha
2002-03	r4 339	54 139	44 209
2003-04	4 454	52 520	45 828
2004-05	4 397	54 107	44 241
2005-06(d)	4 168	55 410	42 938
2006-07(d)	4 450	50 065	48 283

(a) Excludes crops harvested for hay and seed, and pastures and grasses.
(b) Total area of businesses with an estimated value of agricultural operations of $5,000 or more.
(c) Comprises conserved land, forestry, urban and unused land such as vacant Crown land, commercially unused land on Aboriginal and other Crown reserves and waste land, ephemeral lakes, mangrove swamps, as well as businesses not included in the scope of the Agricultural Census/Survey.
(d) The ABS has moved to a new frame from the 2005-06 Agricultural Census onwards. This means that data are not directly comparable with historical time series. For more information, please see the technical notes at the back of the 2005-06 edition of the source publication 7121.0.
Source: Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0).


During the 2006-07 financial year, South Australian farmers spent $209 million controlling weeds, which was more than pests ($68 million) and land and soil problems ($37 million). The total cost of managing these problems was $315 million or an average of $20,826 per agricultural business.

	Weeds	Pests	Land and soil
Agricultural businesses reporting NRM problems (no.)	9 924	11 100	8 673
Agricultural businesses reporting NRM activities (no.)	14 443	12 456	9 530
NRM expenditure of Ag. businesses reporting NRM activities:
Total expenditure ($m)	209	68	37
Average expenditure ($/agricultural business)(b)	14 463	5 485	3 933
Average expenditure ($/'000 ha)(c)	8 369	1 578	1 698
NRM effort on Ag. businesses reporting NRM activities:
Total effort (person days)	458 305	271 706	156 223
Average effort (person days/agricultural business)(d)	32	22	16
Average effort (person days/'000 ha)(e)	18	6	7

(a) The management of weed, pest and land and soil related problems and activities. The management of other types of problems are not included.
(b) Total expenditure on weed, pest and land and soil related activities, divided by the number of agricultural businesses reporting weed, pest and land and soil related activities.
(c) Total expenditure on weed, pest and land and soil related activities, divided by the total area ('000 ha) of agricultural businesses reporting weed, pest and land and soil related activities.
(d) Total effort on weed, pest and land and soil related activities, divided by the number of agricultural businesses reporting weed, pest and land and soil related activities.
(e) Total effort on weed, pest and land and soil related activities, divided by the total area ('000 ha) of agricultural businesses reporting weed, pest and land and soil related activities.
Source: Natural Resource Management on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4620.0).


In 2006-07, 40.7% of agricultural businesses reported using water for irrigation, with the total area irrigated being 201,000 hectares. These businesses used 966 gigalitres of water for irrigation of crops and pastures.

	Agricultural businesses no.	Agricultural businesses irrigating no.	Area under pasture or crop '000 ha	Area irrigated '000 ha	Volume applied ML	Application rate ML/ha
Totals(a)	(b)15 835	(b)6 447	(c)50 065	201	966 057	4.8
Pasture for grazing	na	1 355	na	51	308 558	6.1
Pasture harvested for hay (including lucerne), silage or seed	na	^725	na	^28	^185 553	6.6
Cereal crops harvested for grain or seed(d)	6 314	*73	3 609	*3	*5 899	*1.7
Cereal crops cut for hay or for grazing or fed off	na	^121	na	*3	*9 108	*3.0
Other broadacre crops(e)	3 644	*52	627	*2	^3 202	*1.6
Fruit trees, nut trees, plantation or berry fruits(f)	1 385	1 253	21	19	130 052	6.9
Vegetables for human consumption or seed	na	757	na	14	85 945	6.1
Nurseries, cut flowers or cultivated turf	^273	^237	1	1	^3 534	4.3
Grapevines	3 266	3 086	85	78	224 606	2.9

^ 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
na not available
(a) Totals include other pastures or crops not elsewhere classified.
(b) Total does not equal the sum as many businesses grow or irrigate more than one crop or pasture.
(c) Total includes area of all agricultural land. This does not equal the sum of area under pasture or crop as not all land on agricultural holdings is under pasture or crop.
(d) Excludes rice.
(e) Excludes sugar cane and cotton.
(f) Excludes grapevines.
Source: Water Use on Australian Farms, 2006-07 (cat. no. 4618.0).

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