Beef Cattle Industry
As at 30 June 2017, there were 26.2 million cattle in Australia.
There are approximately 47,776 farms in Australia producing beef cattle, to provide 2.24 million tonnes of beef and veal each year.
The Australian beef industry contributes to 17% of total Australian exports and 35% of total fresh meat sales in Australia.
The gross annual value of beef production is at $16.8 billion.
Each Australian eats an average of 26kg of beef and veal per year.
Dairy Cattle Industry
There are approximately 8,594 dairy farms in Australia.
Dairy Farmers produce 9,102 million litres of whole milk per year.
Each Australian consumes an average of 12.9kg of cheese, 7.1kg of yoghurt and 102.4 litres of milk per year.
Grain Industry
Last year in Australia 40,281,000 tonne of coarse grain was produced, covering 19,283,000 hectares of land.
Sheep Industry
On average there are 10,705 specialised sheep farms in Australia.
Last year Australia, produced 574,310 tonne of sheep and lamb meat.
Australians consume an average of 11.2kg of mutton and lamb per person per year.
Australia is the world’s number one producer of premium quality fine wool and is the largest producer of all wools by value and volume.
Australia produces an average of 386,000 tonnes of wool a year.
There are around 70 million sheep in Australia, producing an average of 4.6kg of wool per head.
The value of wool produced in Australia averages $1.32 billion dollars.
83% of the Australian wool clip is exported to China. About half of this is consumed in China, while the rest is processed into goods exported overseas.
Goatmeat Industry
Only 10% of goatmeat production is used domestically, making it a niche protein.
44% of global goatmeat exports come from Australia, making us the biggest exporter in the world.
98% of Australian goatmeat is exported as a frozen whole carcase.
In 2018, the value of Australian goatmeat exports was $182.6 million.
Chicken Industry
There are 800 commercial meat chicken growers in Australia.
Annually, there are 104 million chickens processed by Australia’s largest poultry processing establishment.
Australian chickens are not given hormones – their size is due to breeding and optimal nutrition.
The world’s domestic chickens all descend from the red junglefowl, first domesticated about 8000 years ago in Asia.
Seafood Industry
Australia produced over 255,000 tonnes of fish in 2016-2017.
Farmed salmon in Tasmania accounts for 20% of fish production, approximately 51,000 tonnes was produced in 2016-2017.
44,000 tonnes of Sardines were produced in 2016-2017, but most of this was used as feed for the 10,0000 tonnes of farmed Tuna produced.
The gross annual value of wild-caught seafood and aquaculture production in 2016-2017 was $3.06 billion.
The gross annual value of the recreational fishing industry in 2016-2017 was $2.5 billion.
The value of seafood and aquaculture exports is $1.4 billion.
66% of fish consumption has been imported to Australia.
Each Australian consumes an average of 14.5kg of fish per year and this is increasing.
Horticulture Industry
88% of Australian food exports are raw commodities.
In 2017-2018 financial year, Australia produced 17,000 tonnes of blueberries, with 20,000 tonnes forecast for 2018-2019.
80% of Australia’s blueberries are produced in Coffs Harbour NSW.
The farmgate value of Australian tree nuts for 2015-16 is $1 billion dollars.
Australian nut export industries include almonds, macadamias, walnuts, chestnuts, pecans and pistachios. Hazelnuts are largely consumed by the domestic market.
The value of Australian nut exports for 2016-17 is $820 million dollars.
Since Australian nuts are free of many pests that blight overseas crops, Australian nuts can be grown with fewer chemicals, thus increasing worldwide demand.
Macadamias are the only Australian native food plant to be widely traded internationally.
Australia’s total fresh-cut flower production is valued at $275.6 million dollars.
The value of Australian exported flowers is $9.7 million dollars.
Viticulture Industry
Australia’s total annual worldwide wine exports is $2.65 billion dollars.
Australia’s top wine export market is China at $1.04 billion dollars, followed by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Hong Kong.
Country Heart Spark 