Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 15—Agriculture 617
climatic variables leads to high rates of
evaporation. Areas that have been cleared for crop
and pasture production tend to coincide with five
to nine months effective rainfall (where rainfall
exceeds evaporation) per year. In areas of effective
rainfall of more than nine months, generally only
higher value crops or tropical crops and fruits are
grown, while in areas with effective rainfall of less
than five months, cropping is usually restricted to
areas that are irrigated.
Since European settlement the vegetation of
Australia has altered significantly. In particular,
large areas of Australia’s forest and woodland
vegetation systems have been cleared,
predominantly for agricultural activity. The areas
that have been altered most are those which have
been opened up to cultivation or intensive grazing.
Other areas, particularly in the semi-arid regions
where extensive grazing of native grasses occurs,
now show signs of returning to timber and scrub.
For more detail see Chapter 1, Geography and
climate.
Land used for agriculture
In spite of Australia’s harsh environment,
agriculture is the most extensive form of land use.
At 31 March 1999, the estimated total area of
agricultural establishments in Australia was 453.7
million hectares, representing about 59% of the
total land area (tables 15.1 and 15.2). The rest of
the Australian land area consists of unoccupied
land (mainly desert in western and central
Australia), Aboriginal land reserves (mainly
located in the Northern Territory), forests,
mining leases, national parks and urban areas.
Livestock grazing accounts for the largest area of
land use in Australian agriculture. This activity has
led to the replacement of large areas of native
vegetation by introduced pastures and grasses in
the higher rainfall and irrigated areas.
At 31 March 1999, 5% of Australia’s agricultural
land was under crops, with a further 5% under
sown pastures and grasses. This maintains the
trend which has seen about 10% of Australia’s
agricultural land under cultivation each year since
the 1980s. Until this time, the area of land
cropped or sown to pastures and grasses had
been expanding rapidly. This expansion was
facilitated by factors including increased use of
fertilisers, improved water supply and reduction
in the rabbit population due to myxomatosis.
Crops(a)
15.1 AGRICULTURAL LAND USE IN AUSTRALIA
Area of
Sown
pastures and
grasses
Balance(b)
Area of
establishments with
agricultural activity
Total
Proportion of
Australian land
area(c)
31 March
mill. ha.
mill. ha.
mill. ha.
mill. ha.
%
1994 18.0 29.5 421.6 469.1 61.0
1995 17.0 (d) 410.2 463.3 60.2
1996 19.4 17.1 428.7 465.2 60.5
1997 21.1 19.0 422.0 462.2 60.1
1998 21.5 22.8 419.5 463.8 60.3
1999 23.3 22.5 407.9 453.7 59.0
(a) Pastures and grasses harvested for hay and seed are included in ‘Sown pastures and grasses’. (b) Includes areas of arid or
rugged land held under grazing licences but not always used for grazing, and also variable amounts of fallow land. (c) About
769,203,000 ha. (d) Collected in the Northern Territory only.
Source: AgStats (7117.0); Agriculture, Australia, 1998–99 (7113.0).