Crop Production

Victoria is currently Australia’s fifth largest grain producing state, accounting for approximately 8 per cent of Australia’s production.³ Cereal (wheat and barley) production represents approximately 86 per cent of broad acre crops excluding hay grown in Victoria, with wheat accounting for around 46 per cent of total production.⁴ Since 1980, production of oilseeds and pulses has grown rapidly from 1 per cent to almost 20 per cent of total production.

Primarily due to drought, Victoria’s grain production has fluctuated over recent years, peaking at 6.95 million tonnes in 2003-04 and reaching a low point of 1.79 million tonnes in 2006-07.

In 2008, the gross value of Victoria’s wheat production was $687.6 million, with barley at $563.6 million and canola at $125.9 million.⁵ Since 1999, the area cropped has increased by approximately 16 per cent to around 3 million hectares.

Victoria’s domestic grain consumption is approximately 2.5 million tonnes per year,⁶ underpinned by relatively stable demand from the dairy, intensive livestock and flour milling sectors. The remainder of Victoria’s grains are exported. Victoria exports approximately 2 million tonnes of grain per annum.⁷ In 2009, exports were valued at $659 million, an increase of $152 million on the previous year, reflecting the higher prices on offer. Victoria accounted for approximately 8 per cent of Australia’s grains exports in 2009.

In 2008, Victoria’s major grain export markets were South Korea ($62 million), Indonesia ($54 million), Thailand ($49 million), and Japan ($49 million). No destination country details were available for $56 million of grain exports from Victoria.⁸

• Victorian Winter Crop Summary
• Estimating Crop Yields; A Brief Guide
• Growing Wheat
• Canola
• Growing Chickpea
• Growing Cereal Rye
• Growing Barley
• Growing Triticale
• Growing Lentil
• Growing Linseed and Linola
• Growing Lupin
• Growing Soybean
• Growing Faba Bean
• Growing Field Pea
• Growing Oat
• Stubble Burning
  
• Harvesting Forage Cereals
• Tall Wheat Grass in Saline Soils
• Establishing Puccinellia
• Managing Puccinellia
• Puccinellia ciliata Wimmera
• Identification of Cereal Seedlings
• Decimal Growth Scale of Cereals
• Estimating Crop Yields and Crop Losses
• Balansa Clover
• Storing Forage Cereals
• When to Cut Forage Cereals
• Effect of Frost on Cereal Grain Crops
  

Notes:

3. ABS, Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia Preliminary 2008-09, 7111.0.

4. ABS, Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia Preliminary 2008-09, 7111.0.

5. ABS, Value of Agricultural Commodities produced 2007-08, 7503.0.

6. 10 year average – ESC grain handling and storage issues paper, November 2008.

7. 10 year production estimate minus 10 year domestic demand average.

8. DPI, Victorian Food & Fibre Export Performance for 2008-09, DPI Agribusiness Group.