CHANGING consumption patterns at home and abroad have dramatically altered the face of Australian farming, research from the Reserve Bank of Australia shows.
The agriculture sector has undergone a substantial compositional shift in the past two decades as farmers produce more fruit, vegetables and meat, but far less wool, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Crop production as a proportion of farm output climbed to 53 per cent in the past decade from 46 per cent in the 1980s, while livestock fell to 47 per cent from 54 per cent over the same period, the RBA research shows.
There have also been big changes within these two broad categories of crops and livestock, and the booming wine export industry is behind a jump in the production of fruit, vegetables and nursery crops.
Growing demand in Asia for beef has meant the share of meat production rose relative to other livestock products such as wool, which has suffered a dramatic slump since the collapse of the reserve price scheme in the early 1990s and as demand has shifted towards alternative fibres.
