Palaszczuk Government support for farmers through the COVID-19 pandemic and flood disasters has helped Queensland’s agriculture sector to post a record result.
In a record result, the value of Queensland’s primary industry commodities is forecast to be $23.54 billion this year, which is a stunning 20 per cent increase from 2020-21.
Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said this outstanding figure comes despite continued challenges with COVID-related disruptions across supply chains, workforce restrictions and catastrophic floods.
“In the face of a very difficult period there’s been such strong demand for Queensland food and fibre products that we’ve seen their value soar,” Mr Furner said.
“Exports are rapidly returning to pre-COVID levels, seasonally adjusted food retail turnover is now above what it was before COVID, and we’re seeing record high prices for many key commodities.”
High performers include:
- Cattle and Calves GVP increased 18% from 2020-21 to a record high of $6.99 billion with continued high prices and strong demand.
- Crops GVP has increased by over 65% with good seasonal conditions, despite flooding, leading to bumper harvests for many crops, including wheat (up 112% to $734 m), sorghum (up 50% to $436 m), barley (up 105% to 134 m) and sugarcane (up 19% to $1.374 b).
- Cotton GVP is forecast to soar to the highest recorded value of $1.5billion (up 180% from 2020-21 and 127% higher than the 5 year average.
“These figures are great for Queensland agriculture, great for Queensland farmers and great for supporting Queensland jobs,” Mr Furner said.
“Since coming into office the Palaszczuk Government has created more than 405,000 jobs with our unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent the lowest in 13 years.
“We are getting on with the job of delivering for our farmers and continuing to implement Queensland’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.”
Mr Furner said the Queensland Government continued to provide industry with timely and accurate data to help guide decision making.
“We have further enhanced our online Data Farm dashboard with charts of weekly movements in selected key horticulture commodities at the Brisbane Wholesale Markets.
“This includes avocados, bananas, broccoli, capsicums, lettuce, mandarins, mangoes, strawberries, sweet potatoes, and watermelons.
