Surveys

Farm surveys conducted by ABARES provide a broad range of information on the current and historical economic performance of farm business units in the rural sector. ABARES conducts the Australian agricultural and grazing industries survey and Australian dairy industry survey annually. These two surveys cover detailed financial, physical and socioeconomic information for the broadacre and dairy sectors that contain more than 70 per cent of Australian farm business units.

Information gathered is presented in Australian farm surveys results, Australian grains industry reports and various dairy publications. Packaged data are also available directly through web-based products such as AGSurf.

Agsurf

ABARES has conducted surveys of selected Australian agricultural industries since the 1940s. The data collected in these surveys are presented interactively in AgSurf.

Three worksheets are available which contain Australian agricultural data by state, zone and industry.

Physical characteristics

Information such as population, livestock numbers, crop areas, livestock and crop production for the various industries.

Download the physical estimates spreadsheet Excel [327kb]

Financial results

An overview of farm finances, including farm cash income, and details of cash receipts and costs.
Specific information is provided for the wheat, mixed livestock–crops, sheep, sheep–beef and dairy industries.

Download the financial tables spreadsheet Excel [882kb]

Ranking of farms by financial measures

Data can be extracted for broadacre farms in different size groups, where size is defined as total cash receipts plus buildup in trading stocks, a measure of gross turnover.

Download the distribution tables spreadsheet Excel [278kb]

Farm survey

For data for the beef, slaughter lambs and sheep industries.

• Survey definitions and methods - August 2011  PDF [462kb]
• Survey definitions and methods - August 2011  Word [1.8mb]

Resource management survey

The Australian government has developed a range of programs to encourage sustainable agriculture and protect Australia’s natural resources. These programs include the National Landcare Program, the Natural Heritage Trust and, more recently, the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.

The 2001-02 resource management survey was designed to investigate the perceptions of, and responses to, land degradation by Australian broadacre and dairy farmers, and to assist in the ongoing evaluation of these natural resource management programs. The resource management survey is a supplementary survey attached to our national survey of broadacre and dairy industries, allowing information from these surveys to be combined. A client report was also produced based on this data.