SUMMARY OF FINDINGS INDUSTRY STRUCTURE
BUSINESSES WITH AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
Table 2 of this publication categorises businesses with agricultural activity into the industry that represents the business' main activity, using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 edition.
The 2008-09 Agricultural Survey revealed that the number of businesses undertaking agricultural activity had fallen to a total of 136 thousand businesses. This represents a 3% decrease compared to 2007-08.
The beef cattle farming industry remained the largest sector in 2008-09, comprising nearly a third of businesses classified to the agriculture industry. The mixed farming sector (grain-sheep/grain-beef cattle) represented the next largest sector, accounting for 11% of businesses in the agriculture industry.
Other notable movements in 2008-09 were the decrease in the number of businesses in the dairy cattle farming industry (down 12%) and the doubling of the number of businesses in the rice growing industry since 2007-08.
The number of non-agricultural businesses which undertook agricultural activity during 2008-09 remained steady at an estimated 15 thousand businesses.