Lending to the farm sector has increased by 5% in real terms, to $142.5 billion, according to the latest data.
Lending rose across all states and territories, except the Northern Territory, with strongest growth in Western Australia (8.2%) and South Australia (7.5%), according to the 2023-24 Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) lending data.
Executive Director of ABARES Dr Jared Greenville said that the use of debt by farmers was an important part of farmers developing their business and for ensuring ongoing working capital.
"A lot of farmers are taking on debt so they can invest back into their businesses," Dr Greenville said.
"Some of the increase was because farmers needed working capital or were unable to reduce debt.
"Overall, most debt is manageable with less than 0.1% of the nearly 147,000 farms loans in operation loans subject to debt mediation and foreclosure."
There was an increase in overdue payments, with loans and leases more than 90 days past due rising from $1.18 billion in 2023-24 to $2.1 billion in 2024-25.
At an industry level, lending to egg and poultry farms rose sharply, by 22%.
"The outbreak of bird flu in 2024 added to demand for loans. For egg producers, output and sales dropped while disease-response costs to farmers soared," Dr Greenville said.
The broadacre cropping industry had the largest increase, with lending up by $3.3 billion.
The annual report and dashboard are available here: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/surveys/farm-debt
