2016-07-12 - Item 12 - Att 1 - Agriculture and Agricultural Land in Noosa Shire

Appendix D - Nationwide Social Trending for
Agriculture
In 2012, coinciding with the Year of the Farmer, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a
paper on social trends affecting Australian farming and farmers. It highlighted the following trends:

•      The majority of Australia’s farms are relatively small – in 2010/11 55% had an estimated
       value of agricultural operations of less than $100,000.
•      The majority of farms were also small in land area with 36% covering less than 50ha
•      Queensland had the highest proportion of land devoted to agriculture (81% of the state)
•      In 2011 there were 157,000 farmers in Australia
•      The number of farmers in Australia has been declining for decades – the figure for 2011
       represents a fall of 11% over the five years from the 2006 census.
•      Men made up 72% of the farmers in Australia.
•      Australian farmers tend to be considerably older than other workers. In 2011 the median
       age of farmers was 53 years compared to 40 years for people in other occupations.
•      In 2011 23% of farmers were aged 65 years or older compared to just 3% of people in other
       occupations.
•      Over the 30 year period of 1981 to 2011 the proportion of farmers aged 55 years and over
       increased from 26% to 47%.
•      Farming as a vocation tends to be characterised by a high degree of self-employment and
       long working hours
•      Despite the fact that 50% of farmers worked 49 hours a week or more the average weekly
       disposable income of farmers was considerably lower than that of people working in other
       occupations.
•      Notwithstanding lower incomes the average “wealth” of farming households is much higher
       than other households (taking into account both assets and liabilities). However some
       farming households have quite low levels of wealth.
•      Between 1981 and 2011 the proportion of Australian farmers with non-school qualifications
       rose from 15% to 38%. Non-school qualifications are more prevalent in the farmers aged
       25-44 than in those aged 45 and over.
•      People in farming families are more likely to volunteer than others, regardless of the size of
       the area in which they live.




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