Agriculture Sector

In reply to Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (22 July 2014). (Estimates Committee A)

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing): I am advised:

That the following factors contributed to the 13 per cent decline in the value of South Australia's food exports from 2011-12 to 2012-13 as reported in the 2012-13 food scorecard.

A decline of $423 million (or 18 per cent) in the value of grain exports due to low stocks of grain on hand at the beginning of the reporting period coupled with significantly lower crop production.

A decline in the value of sheep and lamb meat exports of $115 million from over $500 million the previous year due to a significant reduction in the number of live sheep exported from over 500,000 in 2011-12 to 132,000 in 2012-13. This is a result of a continued decline in global demand for sheep and lamb meat after several years of extreme growth.

A reduction in the value of dairy product exports from $42 million to $8 million reflecting a change in ownership of major dairy processing facilities in the Murraylands with a change in focus more towards the domestic market.

However, there are strong signs of an improvement in 2013-14. For example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics monthly export data, whilst incomplete, show that for South Australian agriculture, food and wine, the year to date exports to 31 May 2014 have increased by $511 million or 13 per cent on the previous year. The main contributors to the increase are meat up by 37 per cent, horticulture up by 22 per cent and wheat up by 15 per cent.

South Australia's 2013-14 grain harvest was 8.5 million tonnes. This is the third highest on record and is an increase of nearly 30 per cent on the 2012-13 harvest.

In March, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) projected that South Australia's broadacre farm cash incomes would increase to an average of $231,000 per farm in 2013-14.

This is 85 per cent above the 10-year average to 2012-13 and the highest average farm cash income recorded by ABARES for South Australian broadacre farms in the 37 years that the broadacre surveys have been conducted.