Agriculture

The gross value of agricultural production in Western Australia was $5.3 billion or 15% of the total gross value of Australian Agricultural Production in 2006/7.  Some 63% of the value of WA’s agricultural output was grain or crop production; 23% was livestock slaughtering and meat products and 14% was livestock products including dairying ($108 million) (Agriculture & Food, WA)

Average farm cash income and profitability of agricultural enterprises in Western Australian for the period 2001-2006 are presented below.

(Source: ABARE)

In the period 2001/06, dairy farming ranked third in terms of farm cash income and profitability for WA agricultural industries as the WA dairy industry went through a major adjustment period due to deregulation of the Australian dairy industry. Changes at both a farm and processor level have been completed with significant consequent increases in average farm income, profit and return on capital projected to occur in future years (see Investment opportunities).

In a deregulated market the scale and capacity of the manufacturing plants in WA were not competitive against the relatively larger plants in Victoria and New Zealand. Part of the adjustment post deregulation involved changes to the composition of dairy exports with a decline in commodity-based products such as milk powders and bulk cheese, and increasing volumes of value-added products including dairy ingredients, and fresh and functional milk solids to SE Asia.  More recently value-added fat products for export have emerged while domestically there has been further developement of higher value branded retail products being marketed in WA and the East Coast of Australia. These trends are projected to continue due to growth strategies, coupled with increasing demand for fresh and functional milk solids to SE Asia.

Changes in dairy exports from Western Australia from 2000/1 to 2006/7.