Emerging plant and animal industries worth $912 million

While Australia is well known for its considerable grain and livestock production, lesser-known emerging industries also play a vital role in Australia’s agricultural sector.

Emerging Australian plant and animal industries have been valued at approximately $912 million - the equivalent of 1.9% of the total value of Australian farm production in 2011-12. These industries earned an estimated export revenue of $491 million in 2011-12, or 1.3% of total farm and fisheries export revenue.

Of this, emerging livestock industries had a gross value of $322 million and earned export revenue of around $201 million in 2011-12. The biggest of these industries were the game bird, goat meat and kangaroo industries.

Emerging plant industries were estimated to be worth $530 million - a dramatic increase on the 2006-07 figure of $308 million. More mature emerging industries such as olives, Asian vegetables and tropical exotic fruit (like papaya and lychees) constitute the majority of this industry.

Many emerging plant industries are export-oriented, with total exports in 2011-12 estimated at $273 million. This has grown significantly since 2006-07, when the value was estimated at $215 million.

The crocodile industry accounted for the bulk of the value of production and exports in aquaculture. This rapidly growing industry was valued at $19.3 million in 2006-07 but in 2011-12 was valued at $59.7 million.

While Australia imports about $23.3 million worth of seaweed, the value of seaweed exports is only $2.2 million.

These figures come from a report entitled ‘Emerging animal and plant industries: their value to Australia’, which was undertaken by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC).

The full report is available to download from www.rirdc.infoservices.com.au.