Cropping sector value tops $28b

Rob Walter, ABS head of agriculture statistics said the nation's traditional major grain crop wheat, together with the high value oilseed canola led the way.

"It was a bumper year for wheat and canola in particular, with 41.2 million tonnes of wheat sold worth $13.5 billion and 8.9 million tonnes of canola sold worth $6.6 billion," Mr Walter said.

On the wheat front alone the ABS found 41.2 million tonnes of wheat, grown over 12.9m hectares were sold in Australia with a local value of $13.5 billion.

The traditional powerhouses of Australian wheat, WA and NSW, were at the top of the charts in terms of volume, with WA producing 14.7m tonnes that were sold and NSW 11.2m tonnes, accounting for over 60pc of Australia's total wheat production, a far cry from 2023-24 when both states endured tough climatic conditions.

Interestingly, the ABS was able to plot wheat sales down to Statistical Area 2 (SA2) level, roughly in line with local government areas.

Looking at this, Morawa, in Western Australia's Mid West, north of Perth, took out the mantle as Australia's largest wheat producing area, with 2.1m tonnes sold.

Out of the top 10 statistical divisions eight were in WA, with Moree and Lightning Ridge / Walgett, in NSW, the only east coast entries in the list.

On the barley front there was 13.5 million tonnes of barley sold in Australia with a local value of $3.7 billion.

Once again WA led the way, with 5.7m tonnes, with South Australia rounding out the quinella with 2.8m tonnes.

Amazingly Kulin, in the eastern wheatbelt in WA, produced over double the amount of barley of its nearest rival, with the top ten areas spread across WA, SA, Victoria and NSW.

Although there was less canola produced than barley it generated more value.

There was 8.9m tonnes of canola sold in Australia, with a value of $6.6 billion.

Western Australia was the largest canola producing state with 4.1 million tonnes sold, almost half of the total national production sold, followed by NSW with 2.5 million tonnes sold.

Western Australia, NSW and Victoria combined accounted for 91pc of the total canola sold.

WA again dominated the charts by statistical area, with eight of the top ten, led by Esperance, while two Riverina areas also made the cut.

Interestingly, the next biggest crop by value was lentils, at $1.84 billion.

Previously a relatively niche crop, the legume is now a hugely popular option for growers, particularly through SA and Victoria.

Mr Walter said the ABS had modernisied the way it was producing official agricultural statistics, pointing to the improved granular detail at a regional level.

He said 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," he said.

The ABS broadacre crop statistics are now produced using a combination of Levy Payer Register data and satellite derived crop mapping.