Agricultural production statistics include results for key livestock, forestry, and arable crops.
Key facts
At 30 June 2024, the provisional number of:
- beef cattle was 3.7 million, no change from 2023
- sheep was 23.6 million, down 3 percent from 2023
- dairy cattle was 5.9 million, up 1 percent from 2023.
During the year ended 30 June 2024, the provisional area of:
- wheat harvested was 45,000 hectares, an increase of 11 percent from 2023
- barley harvested was 46,900 hectares, a decrease of 6 percent from 2023.
| At June | Total Beef Cattle |
| 2002 | 4491000 |
| 2003 | 4627000 |
| 2004 | 4447000 |
| 2005 | 4424000 |
| 2006 | 4439000 |
| 2007 | 4394000 |
| 2008 | 4137000 |
| 2009 | 4101000 |
| 2010 | 3949000 |
| 2011 | 3846000 |
| 2012 | 3734000 |
| 2013 | 3699000 |
| 2014 | 3670000 |
| 2015 | 3547000 |
| 2016 | 3533000 |
| 2017 | 3616000 |
| 2018 | 3721000 |
| 2019 | 3890000 |
| 2020 | 3883000 |
| 2021 | 3965000 |
| 2022 | 3821000 |
| 2023 | 3654000 |
| 2024 | 3656000 |
| at June | Total Dairy Cattle |
| 2002 | 5162000 |
| 2003 | 5102000 |
| 2004 | 5152000 |
| 2005 | 5087000 |
| 2006 | 5170000 |
| 2007 | 5261000 |
| 2008 | 5578000 |
| 2009 | 5861000 |
| 2010 | 5915000 |
| 2011 | 6175000 |
| 2012 | 6446000 |
| 2013 | 6484000 |
| 2014 | 6698000 |
| 2015 | 6486000 |
| 2016 | 6619000 |
| 2017 | 6530000 |
| 2018 | 6386000 |
| 2019 | 6261000 |
| 2020 | 6200000 |
| 2021 | 6185000 |
| 2022 | 5930000 |
| 2023 | 5885000 |
| 2024 | 5920000 |
| At June | Total Sheep |
| 2002 | 39572000 |
| 2003 | 39552000 |
| 2004 | 39271000 |
| 2005 | 39880000 |
| 2006 | 40082000 |
| 2007 | 38460000 |
| 2008 | 34088000 |
| 2009 | 32384000 |
| 2010 | 32563000 |
| 2011 | 31132000 |
| 2012 | 31263000 |
| 2013 | 30787000 |
| 2014 | 29803000 |
| 2015 | 29121000 |
| 2016 | 27584000 |
| 2017 | 27527000 |
| 2018 | 27296000 |
| 2019 | 26822000 |
| 2020 | 26029000 |
| 2021 | 25733000 |
| 2022 | 25133000 |
| 2023 | 24359000 |
| 2024 | 23591000 |
| Year to 30 June | “Area harvested | “Area harvested |
| 2003 | Wheat | Barley |
| 2004 | in hectares” | in hectares” |
| 2005 | 42600 | 63400 |
| 2006 | 39100 | 48500 |
| 2007 | 39400 | 49800 |
| 2008 | 38000 | 47100 |
| 2009 | 40500 | 51500 |
| 2010 | 42300 | 67400 |
| 2011 | 53900 | 77700 |
| 2012 | 54800 | 52300 |
| 2013 | 52600 | 64900 |
| 2014 | 54800 | 65700 |
| 2015 | 49200 | 61300 |
| 2016 | 47900 | 59300 |
| 2017 | 47700 | 64200 |
| 2018 | 49900 | 51900 |
| 2019 | 41100 | 42000 |
| 2020 | 41400 | 56300 |
| 2021 | 45000 | 55500 |
| 2022 | 45700 | 45100 |
| 2023 | 43500 | 44200 |
| 2024 | 42900 | 48200 |
More data
Use Infoshare to access the agriculture time series:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Agriculture – AGR
Definitions and metadata
- Agricultural production statistics 2024 – DataInfo+ has information about this data, including general methodology about the collection, and data accuracy.
- Agricultural production statistics – DataInfo+ provides general methodology used to produce agricultural statistics and related metadata.
Technical enquiries
Shannon McLeigh
[email protected]
ISSN 1178-0398
Next release
Agricultural production statistics: Year to June 2024 (final) will be released on 5 May 2025.
/Stats NZ Public Release. View in full here.
