Australian Agriculture: Broadacre Crops

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is modernising the way official agricultural statistics are produced to better support Australian agriculture. New data sources will support improved regional detail on an annual basis. This helps to understand impacts from biosecurity and climate risks as well as supply chain and infrastructure requirements and supports decision making by governments, industry, and farmers.

These changes were outlined in early 2023 in Modernising ABS Agriculture Statistics which explained why the ABS is modernising its Agriculture Statistics Program and the guiding principles being followed.

A key part of the modernisation has been the development of partnerships with industry and government to identify new data sources and develop new statistical methods. This has reduced reporting burden on farmers and created greater consistency between existing data sources which helps to build trust in the statistics.

ABS broadacre crop statistics are produced using a combination of Levy Payer Register data and satellite derived crop mapping. This data has enabled detailed regional Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) statistics to be produced and these can be accessed through Data Explorer and Interactive Maps.

For further information on the methods and data sources used to produce the statistics contained in this publication please see the Methodology section.

There were 68.6 million tonnes of winter broadacre crops sold in Australia during 2022-23, with a local value of $26.3 billion. Australia’s winter crop area covered 23.5 million hectares.  Wheat, barley and canola were the three largest crops in terms of value with a combined local value of $23.9 billion, representing 91% of the national winter crop total. Wheat was the winter crop with the highest production with 41.2 million tonnes sold, this accounted for 60% of all winter crops sold.

In 2022-23:

• 41.2 million tonnes of wheat were sold in Australia with a local value of $13.5 billion
• 12.9 million hectares of wheat were grown
• 22,700 businesses reported wheat sales

Western Australia was the largest wheat producing state with 14.7 million tonnes sold, followed by New South Wales with 11.2 million tonnes sold. Western Australia and New South Wales combined accounted for more than 60% of Australia’s total wheat production. 

Eight of the top ten Statistical Area 2 (SA2) regions for wheat production were in Western Australia.  Morawa was the highest wheat producing SA2 nationally, with 2.1 million tonnes sold.

The interactive map below shows the distribution of wheat production across Australia.

Areas can be selected to view the underlying data. All data can be found in the Data downloads section of this publication.

In 2022-23:

• 8.9 million tonnes of canola were sold in Australia with a local value of $6.6 billion
• 4.4 million hectares of canola grown
• 11,800 businesses reported selling canola

Western Australia was the largest canola producing state with 4.1 million tonnes sold, almost half of the total national production sold. New South Wales was the second largest canola producing state, with 2.5 million tonnes sold. Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria combined accounted for 91% of the total canola sold.

Eight of the top ten Statistical Area 2 (SA2) regions for canola production were in Western Australia. Esperance Surrounds (WA) was the highest canola producing SA2 nationally, with 538,000 tonnes sold.

In 2022-23:

• 13.5 million tonnes of barley were sold in Australia with a local value of $3.7 billion
• 3.8 million hectares of barley were grown
• 13,500 businesses reported the sale of barley

Western Australia was the largest barley producing state with 5.7 million tonnes sold, more than double of the second largest barley producing state, South Australia, which sold 2.8 million tonnes.

Six of the top ten Statistical Area 2 (SA2) regions for barley production were in Western Australia. Kulin (WA) was the highest barley producing SA2 nationally, with 1.4 million tonnes sold.

In 2022-23, maize, sorghum and rice accounted for 3.2 million tonnes of summer broadacre crops sold in Australia. The crop area for these three crops combined was 800 thousand hectares. Cotton was Australia's largest summer crop by area with 766 thousand hectares bringing Australia’s total summer crop area to 1.6 million hectares.

In 2022-23:

• 2.3 million tonnes of sorghum were sold in Australia with a local value of $854.8 million
• 703,000 hectares of sorghum were grown
• 2,000 businesses reported sorghum sales

Queensland was the largest sorghum producing state with 1.6 million tonnes sold from 1,300 levy paying businesses. Queensland and New South Wales produced more than 99% of the nation’s sorghum that was sold.

Seven of the top ten Statistical Area 2 (SA2) regions for sorghum production were in Queensland. Wambo (Qld.) was the highest producing SA2 region, with 308,000 tonnes sold.

In 2022-23:

• 387,000 tonnes of Maize were sold in Australia with a local value of $161 million
• 78,000 hectares of maize were grown
• 420 businesses reported selling maize.

New South Wales was the largest maize producing state with 210,000 tonnes or 54% of the national figure, from 185 levy paying businesses. New South Wales and Queensland combined produced 80% of the nation’s maize that was sold.

Five of the top ten Statistical Area 2 (SA2) regions for maize production were in New South Wales and three were in Queensland. Griffith Surrounds (NSW) was the highest maize producing SA2 nationally, with 80,000 tonnes. Kununurra in Western Australia’s Ord Irrigation district was the third highest maize producing SA2 with 34,000 tonnes.

In 2022-23:

• 32.6 million tonnes of sugarcane were sold for processing in Australia, with a local value of $1.5 billion
• 330,000 hectares of sugarcane were grown
• 3,800 levy paying businesses reported the sale of sugarcane for processing

Queensland accounts for 96% of the country's sugarcane production with 31.3 million tonnes sold for processing and 85% of Australia’s sugarcane producing businesses with 3,200.

Burdekin (Qld) was the largest sugarcane producing SA2 region, with 7.6 million tonnes sold.

Agricultural levy data is combined with satellite crop mapping to produce SA2 estimates of production, value, area and number of businesses. For more detail refer to the methodology section.

Levy payer register data is reported from the first point of sale and comprehensively captures the ‘value of grain sold or used in commercial production’. A corresponding measure of tonnes is also reported in this data. This coverage supports the improved regional detail in this publication. In the case of sugarcane and rice, the levy is paid on tonnage and only tonnage data is available from levy payer register data and additional industry data is required to estimate value.

It is important to highlight that production tonnages and local value are based on what was sold through the levy system. The levy payer register data does not capture production or value of crops produced for hay, silage or used on-farm for purposes such as livestock feed. Most crops are primarily sold through the levy system however both oats and sorghum have significant production amounts used on farm. This means that total value, production, and business count data will be lower than total production. This difference is important to note when making comparisons with past ABS data. The ABS is continuing work to develop a method to estimate total production for these crops.

The satellite derived crop mapping data captures the entire area of crops planted regardless of their final use.

For more detail refer to the methodology section.

The maps in the following link show broadacre crop production sold, local value, area, and business count statistics on SA2 regions. The SA2 regions can be selected to view the underlying data. Regional data used in these maps is available through the Data Explorer link in the Data downloads section of this publication.

Australian Agriculture: Broadacre crops, 2022-23, by SA2

Regional statistics for broadacre crops are available through Data Explorer.

Link to Data Explorer: Broadacre crops, 2022-23 by Australia, states and territories and by Statistical Area 2

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

This publication, along with Australian Agriculture: Horticulture and Australian Agriculture: Livestock, have replaced the now discontinued Agricultural Commodities, Australia, and Value of Agriculture Commodities Produced, Australia.

While all three Australian Agriculture releases will be published together for 2022-23 estimates, subsequent issues will be staggered to facilitate more timely release of data. The first update for 2023-24 estimates is expected to be for Australian Agriculture: Broadacre Crops which will include sugarcane estimates in the second half of 2024.

The ABS would like to thank the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Digital Agriculture Services, Queensland Department of Environment and Science and the Australian Sugar Milling Council for providing the data required to produce the estimates presented in this release. Thank you to the many individuals and organisations who contributed to developing the method used to produce these estimates without the need to survey farmers.