Agricultural production statistics include results for key livestock, forestry, and arable crops.
Key facts
At 30 June 2024, the number of:
- dairy cattle was 5.8 million, down 1 percent from 2023
- beef cattle was 3.7 million, up 1 percent from 2023
- sheep was 23.6 million, down 3 percent from 2023
- deer was 709,000, down 4 percent from 2023.
| At 30 June | Total dairy cattle | Total beef cattle |
| 2002 | 5162000 | 4491000 |
| 2003 | 5102000 | 4627000 |
| 2004 | 5152000 | 4447000 |
| 2005 | 5087000 | 4424000 |
| 2006 | 5170000 | 4439000 |
| 2007 | 5261000 | 4394000 |
| 2008 | 5578000 | 4137000 |
| 2009 | 5861000 | 4101000 |
| 2010 | 5915000 | 3949000 |
| 2011 | 6175000 | 3846000 |
| 2012 | 6446000 | 3734000 |
| 2013 | 6484000 | 3699000 |
| 2014 | 6698000 | 3670000 |
| 2015 | 6486000 | 3547000 |
| 2016 | 6619000 | 3533000 |
| 2017 | 6530000 | 3616000 |
| 2018 | 6386000 | 3721000 |
| 2019 | 6261000 | 3890000 |
| 2020 | 6200000 | 3883000 |
| 2021 | 6185000 | 3965000 |
| 2022 | 5930000 | 3821000 |
| 2023 | 5885000 | 3654000 |
| 2024 | 5837000 | 3679000 |
| At 30 June | Total sheep |
| 2002 | 39572000 |
| 2003 | 39552000 |
| 2004 | 39271000 |
| 2005 | 39880000 |
| 2006 | 40082000 |
| 2007 | 38460000 |
| 2008 | 34088000 |
| 2009 | 32384000 |
| 2010 | 32563000 |
| 2011 | 31132000 |
| 2012 | 31263000 |
| 2013 | 30787000 |
| 2014 | 29803000 |
| 2015 | 29121000 |
| 2016 | 27584000 |
| 2017 | 27527000 |
| 2018 | 27296000 |
| 2019 | 26822000 |
| 2020 | 26029000 |
| 2021 | 25733000 |
| 2022 | 25133000 |
| 2023 | 24359000 |
| 2024 | 23583000 |
| At 30 June | Total deer |
| 2002 | 1648000 |
| 2003 | 1689000 |
| 2004 | 1757000 |
| 2005 | 1705000 |
| 2006 | 1587000 |
| 2007 | 1396000 |
| 2008 | 1223000 |
| 2009 | 1146000 |
| 2010 | 1123000 |
| 2011 | 1089000 |
| 2012 | 1061000 |
| 2013 | 1028000 |
| 2014 | 958000 |
| 2015 | 900000 |
| 2016 | 835000 |
| 2017 | 836000 |
| 2018 | 851000 |
| 2019 | 810000 |
| 2020 | 833000 |
| 2021 | 814000 |
| 2022 | 794000 |
| 2023 | 742000 |
| 2024 | 709000 |
During the year ended 30 June 2024, the area of:
- wheat harvested was 46,400 hectares, an increase of 15 percent from 2023
- barley harvested was 46,200 hectares, a decrease of 8 percent from 2023.
| Year to 30 June | Area harvested for wheat | Area harvested for barley |
| 2003 | 42600 | 63400 |
| 2004 | 39100 | 48500 |
| 2005 | 39400 | 49800 |
| 2006 | 38000 | 47100 |
| 2007 | 40500 | 51500 |
| 2008 | 42300 | 67400 |
| 2009 | 53900 | 77700 |
| 2010 | 54800 | 52300 |
| 2011 | 52600 | 64900 |
| 2012 | 54800 | 65700 |
| 2013 | 49200 | 61300 |
| 2014 | 47900 | 59300 |
| 2015 | 47700 | 64200 |
| 2016 | 49900 | 51900 |
| 2017 | 41100 | 42000 |
| 2018 | 41400 | 56300 |
| 2019 | 45000 | 55500 |
| 2020 | 45700 | 45100 |
| 2021 | 43500 | 44200 |
| 2022 | 42900 | 48200 |
| 2023 | 40500 | 50100 |
| 2024 | 46400 | 46200 |
At 30 June 2024, there were:
- 37,600 hectares of wine grapes, up 9 percent from 2022
- 9,500 hectares of apples, down 3 percent from 2022
- 14,500 hectares of kiwifruit canopy area, a decrease of 1 percent from 2022
- 8,200 hectares of kiwifruit canopy area of the gold variety and 5,600 hectares of the green variety.
| At 30 June | Apples (hectares) |
| 2002 | 11700 |
| 2003 | 12200 |
| 2005 | 11000 |
| 2007 | 9200 |
| 2009 | 9300 |
| 2011 | 9000 |
| 2012 | 8800 |
| 2014 | 8400 |
| 2017 | 8600 |
| 2019 | 9800 |
| 2020 | 9800 |
| 2022 | 9800 |
| 2024 | 9500 |
| June Year | Green kiwifruit | Gold kiwifruit | Other kiwifruit |
| 2007 | 10500 | 2300 | 300 |
| 2009 | 10500 | 2500 | 300 |
| 2011 | 10000 | 2900 | 200 |
| 2012 | 9500 | 3100 | 200 |
| 2014 | 7000 | 3700 | 300 |
| 2017 | 6800 | 4800 | 200 |
| 2019 | 7800 | 7000 | 200 |
| 2020 | 7500 | 7800 | 300 |
| 2022 | 6500 | 7800 | 400 |
| 2024 | 5600 | 8200 | 700 |
Update to forestry data
Stats NZ received additional data from the National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD). This data related to forest not previously included in the Agricultural Production Survey/Census. Revisions to previous land use and forestry statistics, especially in the 2016 to 2021 period, are planned.
National Exotic Forest Description as at 1 April 2024 is the latest NEFD report of the national exotic forest.
More data
Use Infoshare to access the agriculture time series:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Agriculture - AGR
Access data in Aotearoa Data Explorer
Aotearoa Data Explorer - Agriculture provides this data.
How to use Aotearoa Data Explorer contains video tutorials and a user guide.
Definitions and metadata
- Agricultural production survey 2024 - DataInfo+ has information about this data, including general methodology about the collection, and data accuracy.
- Agricultural production statistics - DataInfo+ provides general methodology used to produce agricultural statistics and related metadata.
Technical enquiries
Shannon McLeigh
[email protected]
ISSN 1178-0398
Next release
Agricultural production statistics: Year to June 2025 (final) will be released in the second quarter of 2026.
