2. Changes in Area of Winter Crops in NSW
2.1 Importance of Broadleaf Crops in NSW
While research in improvements in wheat and the other main cereals (barley and oats) began
in the late Nineteenth Century, research into adapting or breeding pulse and oilseed crops in
NSW only began in the late 1960s for some crops, and even more recently for others. The
impetus for the research at that time was the advent of (short-lived) wheat production quotas
until the early 1970s. Since the 1980s, production of these crops has increased, and the areas
sown have become significant enough to be estimated regularly by the Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
(ABARE)2.
At the state level, the area sown to winter pulses and oilseeds has grown substantially from
very low levels since the 1980s (Table 2), reaching a peak of 820,000 ha in 2001. However,
cereals still accounted for 85% of the area sown to all broadacre winter crops in NSW in
2002, down from 99% in the mid-1980s (see Appendix A for more detailed data). In the
drought-affected crops of the past two years, the level has risen to over 90%.
Table 2: Area Sown to Winter Crops, NSW, 1984 to 2004
Area sown (000 ha) % of total area
|
Total |
Cereals |
Pulses |
Oilseeds |
Total Broadleaf |
Cereals |
Pulses |
Oilseeds |
Total Broadleaf | |
|
1984 |
4,651 |
4,592 |
44 |
16 |
59 |
99% |
1% |
0% |
1% |
|
1985 |
4,813 |
4,716 |
57 |
40 |
97 |
98% |
1% |
1% |
2% |
|
1986 |
4,202 |
4,097 |
67 |
38 |
105 |
98% |
2% |
1% |
2% |
|
1987 |
3,710 |
3,557 |
123 |
30 |
153 |
96% |
3% |
1% |
4% |
|
1988 |
3,485 |
3,342 |
119 |
24 |
143 |
96% |
3% |
1% |
4% |
|
1989 |
3,067 |
2,939 |
98 |
30 |
128 |
96% |
3% |
1% |
4% |
|
1990 |
3,224 |
3,045 |
126 |
53 |
179 |
94% |
4% |
2% |
6% |
|
1991 |
2,781 |
2,476 |
204 |
101 |
305 |
89% |
7% |
4% |
11% |
|
1992 |
3,102 |
2,857 |
174 |
71 |
245 |
92% |
6% |
2% |
8% |
|
1993 |
3,325 |
3,059 |
166 |
101 |
266 |
92% |
5% |
3% |
8% |
|
1994 |
2,611 |
2,284 |
175 |
153 |
327 |
87% |
7% |
6% |
13% |
|
1995 |
3,952 |
3,628 |
154 |
170 |
324 |
92% |
4% |
4% |
8% |
|
1996 |
4,801 |
4,502 |
120 |
179 |
299 |
94% |
3% |
4% |
6% |
|
1997 |
4,566 |
4,146 |
171 |
250 |
421 |
91% |
4% |
5% |
9% |
|
1998 |
4,750 |
4,176 |
231 |
343 |
574 |
88% |
5% |
7% |
12% |
|
1999 |
4,954 |
4,194 |
236 |
523 |
759 |
85% |
5% |
11% |
15% |
|
2000 |
5,376 |
4,592 |
230 |
554 |
784 |
85% |
4% |
10% |
15% |
|
2001 |
5,418 |
4,598 |
284 |
536 |
820 |
85% |
5% |
10% |
15% |
|
2002 |
4,680 |
3,994 |
210 |
476 |
686 |
85% |
4% |
10% |
15% |
|
2003 |
4,630 |
4,288 |
147 |
195 |
342 |
93% |
3% |
4% |
7% |
|
2004 |
4,897 |
4,435 |
162 |
300 |
462 |
91% |
3% |
6% |
9% |
Source: ABARE (2003) and ABARE (2005).
2 While ABARE produces estimates of the area sown and production during the season, the final estimate of the
area sown each year is determined by ABS and is accepted by ABARE. As a result, ABS and ABARE data are
the same for historical data, but ABARE is able to produce more up-to-date estimates during the season.