The amount of summer broadacre crops sold in 2023-24 rose by 9.3 per cent, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Rob Walter, ABS head of agricultural statistics, said: 'The rise in summer broadacre crops produced and sold totaled 3.5m tonnes. This was despite the total area for summer broadacre crop production falling by 3.3 per cent.'
'Sorghum led the rise in the amount of summer crops sold in 2023-24, up by 5 per cent, or 114,825 tonnes, to 2.4m tonnes. This made up 70 per cent of total summer crop sales.'
| Crop | 2022-23 ('000 tonnes) | 2023-24 ('000 tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| Maize | 387 | 447 |
| Sorghum | 2,326 | 2,441 |
| Rice | 497 | 619 |
| Total | 3,209 | 3,507 |
Despite the rise in the amount of sorghum sold, local value fell 11 per cent (-$90.2m) mainly due to lower prices. The two largest producing sorghum states both saw falls in local value, with Queensland dropping by $79.2m (-14 per cent) and New South Wales by $11.8m (-4 per cent).
The amount of maize sold grew by 60,525 tonnes (+16 per cent), to a total of 447,027 tonnes. The local value of maize rose by $7.8m (+5 per cent) to $168.7m.
Favourable growing conditions in the southern part of New South Wales meant 60 per cent of Australia's maize was grown in the state in 2023-24, a rise of 57,323 tonnes (+27 per cent) to 266,982 tonnes. This production growth drove a rise in local value of $12.7m (+15 per cent) to $97.4m in New South Wales.
In contrast, the amount of maize produced and sold in Queensland dropped by 29,566 tonnes (-30 per cent), the value fell by $14.0m (-32 per cent), and the area of maize production shrunk by 11,413 hectares (-52 per cent).
'Queensland was the only state to have falls in maize across production, area and local value. This was largely due to the autumn armyworm infestation, which destroyed crops across Queensland and northern New South Wales,' Mr Walter said.
The amount of rice sold was up by 122,547 tonnes (+25 per cent) in 2023-24, reaching 619,180 tonnes despite little change in the size of rice crop areas. New South Wales continued to account for almost all of this production with 615,748 tonnes.
New estimates in this release from a modernised approach to producing agriculture statistics, which mean farmers no longer have to fill in survey forms, include:
- The local value of rice, which was $241.9m in 2023-24.
- The area of cotton production, which was 121,152 hectares less in 2023-24, totalling 644,536 hectares. The ABS is continuing work to develop more complete statistics on cotton as part of the modernisation.
