A new online service will allow farmers and agri-business investors to identify opportunities to expand agricultural production.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry John McVeigh said the new service was developed as part of the state-wide Land Audit completed in May last year.
The audit identified land that is important to current and future agricultural production.
“We have now developed the Agricultural Values Assessment online service to cut through about 800 pages of information and generate simple, informative reports for an area of interest selected by a potential investor,” Mr McVeigh said.
“The service will be useful for agri-business investors looking to invest in agriculture in a particular region, or for farmers looking to expand their businesses.
“A cane farmer in Mackay could use the service to help make decisions about an area’s suitability for higher value break crops, or to identify regional planning interests that apply to their land.”
The service provides customised maps of agricultural land classifications, important agricultural areas and infrastructure.
The information is provided free of charge and can be requested by completing a short request form on the department website.
Users are emailed their customised report in less than an hour after the request is submitted online.
Mr McVeigh said the assessment reports also provided information relating to other opportunities and constraints within the specified assessment areas.
“Requested reports will cover an assessment area based on a 25 kilometre radius from a central coordinate specified by the user,” Mr McVeigh said.
“The user can then see the different types of agricultural land uses that this assessment area is currently used for, as well as what it might be potentially suitable for.”
More information can be found on the DAFF website
Related articles:
