Aussie farm outlook brightens

 The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) says the gross value of livestock production is expected to rise about 5.6% to A$25.9 billion in 2015–16, after a forecast increase of 5.9% in 2014–15.

The value of crop production is seen rising 5.1% in 2015–16 to A$28.5 billion, after falling 9.6% in 2013–14.

ABARES executive director Karen Schneider told the organisation’s annual Outlook conference in Canberra that the rise in the value of farm production is likely to continue in the medium term.

“In 2019–20, the gross value of Australian farm production is projected to be around A$55.3 billion in 2014-15 dollars, around 9% higher than the five year average to 2013-14,” Schneider says.

A modest rise in Australian farm commodity export earnings is forecast in 2015–16, with total exports of about A$40.5 billion compared with a forecast A$40.3 billion in 2014–15.

Export earners forecast to rise in 2015-16 include wheat (up by 12%), sugar (11%), canola (10%), dairy products (8%) and beef and veal (2%).

Schneider says these increases are expected to be largely offset by forecast falls in export earnings for mutton (39%), cotton (35%), barley (11%) and lamb (8%). “By 2019–20, the value of farm exports is projected to be around A$41.2 billion in 2014–15 dollars, also 9% higher than the average over the five years to 2013–14.”