Good Year For Farmers: ABARES

20161212 ABARES — ABARES projects that Wide Bay-Burnett beef and grain producers will see the best real farm cash incomes in 2015-16 that they’ve seen in a long time (Image and data: ABARES/DAFF)

December 12, 2016

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics & Sciences (ABARES) has projected a good 2015-16 for Wide Bay-Burnett cattle and grain farmers.

On Monday ABARES released its December 2016 ‘About My Region’ profiles, and it has projected that real farm cash income for Wide Bay-Burnett cattle and grain farmers in 2015-16 is likely to be the best they have seen in many years.

ABARES report that farm cash incomes in all Queensland regions increased in 2014-15 except for the West and South West as a result of higher beef cattle, wheat and pulse sale prices.

Average broadacre farm cash income in Queensland is projected to increase by a further 34 per cent in 2015-16 to an average of $166,000 a farm.

“For Queensland broadacre farms, average receipts from beef cattle are expected to have increased by around 14 per cent and crop receipts by around 30 per cent, resulting in average total farm receipts increasing by 15 per cent in 2015-16,” ABARES says.

“Average total cash costs are projected to have increased by around 7 per cent in 2015-16, mainly because of an increase in beef cattle purchases in some regions and increased spending on repairs and maintenance, fertiliser, hired labour and crop and pasture chemicals.”

For beef cattle, ABARES projects the average farm cash income of Queensland’s beef industry farms will increase to $152,000 a farm in 2015-16, while costs will remain relatively static.

For grains industry farms, average farm cash income is expected to increase to $236,000 a farm, thanks to a lift in crop receipts as a result of above average winter grain yields, and increased grain legume production in southern Queensland.

For dairy farms, though, ABARES projects average farm cash income will decline slightly in 2015-16 to $91,000 a farm, which is 22 per cent below the 10 year average. This reduction is mainly due to increased cash costs.