Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 15—Agriculture 621
Gross value of agricultural
commodities produced
The contribution of agriculture to the Australian
economy can be measured in a number of ways.
The most direct measurement available is the
gross value of agricultural production for the year
ending 31 March. In 1998–99, the gross value of
agricultural production in current prices was
$29.0b.
Table 15.6 shows the gross value of agricultural
commodities produced for the years 1993–94 to
1998–99 i.e. the years ending 31 March 1994 to
31 March 1999. The values shown are the values
of recorded production at the wholesale prices
realised in the principal market place. Also shown
are chain volume indexes of the value of
production, which provide an indication of the
change in value after the direct effects of price
change are eliminated. Chain volume measures
are discussed in the section Chain volume or
‘real’ GDP in Chapter 29, National accounts.
Agricultural inventions
The untamed landscape of Australia, quite
different from the results of centuries of
cultivation in the United Kingdom, presented
challenges to Australian farmers which they
overcame with great ingenuity and innovation.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s the invention
of machines such as the stump jump plough
and the header harvester paved the way for
efficient large scale farming in the comparatively
harsh Australian environment. The stump jump
plough allowed farmers to till soil still holding
tree roots after tree clearing had taken place.
The header harvester gave farmers the
opportunity to harvest crops on broader
acreages than could be harvested by traditional
labour-based methods on smaller allotments.
James Farrer applied scientific methods to
wheat breeding and developed new strains of
drought and disease resistant wheat, enabling
the expansion of wheat growing into the drier
inland regions of Australia.
Inventions throughout the 20th century allowed
Australia’s farmers to become and remain
among the most productive and efficient
primary producers in the world. Large scale
mechanisation, with machines replacing animal
and human labour, has enabled Australian
farmers to remain price-competitive and to
supply markets around the world. The
development of equipment such as wheeled
and tracked tractors, the milking machine, the
sugar cane harvester, travelling irrigators and
even the humble ‘ute’ has given farmers the
tools to produce bigger crops more efficiently.
Technological and scientific developments have
included biological control agents such as the
myxoma virus, and more recently the calici
virus, to control rabbit numbers; the use of
satellite positioning systems to assist in land
management by, for example, applying
chemicals only to the areas of paddocks
needing them; the improved uses of gene
technologies (noting Farrer’s ground-breaking
work begun over 100 years ago) to breed more
productive and healthier plants and animals;
and the implementation of holistic systems such
as integrated pest management and cell grazing.
Current and future technologies include the
further computerisation of farm activities and
genetic engineering.
In the pioneering days of Australia’s history,
technology and innovation were used to
overcome the obstacles faced by farmers trying
to make a living off impoverished soil and very
dry land. In leaving the 20th century, we see
farmers making use of technology and
innovation to remain viable players in a keenly
competitive international market, while
ensuring the sustainability of their social,
economic and biophysical environments. While
we do not know what technologies will be
available to Australian farming in the future, the
uptake of technology over the last century has
helped to place Australian agriculture in its
present strong position.