Agriculture in Australia is highly mechanized, requiring minimal human labor. Only about 4 % of the country's workers are farmers. However, they produce nearly amount the food the people need. Agriculture provides only 3% of Australia’s gross domestic product.

 

Farmland covers about 60 % of Australia. However, most of this land is dry grazing land. Farmers cultivate crops on only about 10 % of the farmland. But they use modern agricultural methods to make the cropland highly productive. They irrigate about 5 % of the cropland. Although much of Australia's land is too dry for cultivation, it is well suited to livestock raising.

 

Australia's leading farm products are cattle and calves and wheat. Other significant products include dairy products, fruit and nuts, vegetables, and wool. Australia is the world's major producer and exporter of wool and a leading producer and exporter of beef, sugar, and wheat. Another rapidly growing industry is winemaking. Amount the Australian states produce wine, but New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria produce the best vintages. Western Australia as well has a developing wine industry In regions suitable for growing grapes, winemakers are turning old farms and orchards into vineyards to produce grapes for wine. The country's other major farm products include barley, chickens and eggs, cotton, nursery products, oats, rice, and sheep and lambs.(Roughly 60 % of the land is used for grazing; only about 2% is devoted to crops.)

 

Sheep, the majority numerous animals, are raised mainly for wool, though lamb, mutton, and skins are significant. Australia is a world leader in number of sheep, in wool production, and in wool exports. New South Wales and Western Australia together raise additional than half the country's sheep and produce additional than half its wool. Normally, wool accounts for about-tenth of the price of the country's exports. Production occurs in a lot of areas, but comes mainly from large farms, called stations, in the southeast.

Australia is as well a leading producer of beef and dairy products, both of which, particularly beef, are exported in large amounts. The major beef-cattle area is a crescent-shaped belt west of the Great Dividing Range. Dairying is centered along parts of the east and southeast coasts, where rainfall is additional plentiful. Queensland and New South Wales raise additional than half of Australia's beef cattle. Victoria is the leading producer of dairy products.

 

Wheat is Australia's chief crop and a principal export. Farmers grow wheat in amount areas of the country that have adequate rainfall and climate. But production is heavily concentrated in New South Wales and Western Australia. Oats and barley are as well major grains. Because of the climatic range, a lot of kinds of tropical and temperate fruits and vegetables are raised. Cane farming supplies the local market with sugar and yields a large surplus for export. Rice, tobacco, and cotton are as well grown. Farms on the east coast of Queensland produce sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, and other crops that need a wet tropical climate. Fruit such as apples and pears are common in amount the states. New South Wales and South Australia produce most of the country's oranges.

Irrigation has been developed in several regions; however, the irrigated area is small because of limited supplies of water. The majority notable undertaking is the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in the Great Dividing Range. In addition to creating power, the project diverts water for irrigation from eastward-flowing streams westward to the Murrumbidgee and Murray river valleys. Artesian wells, called boresin Australia, are used in some parts of the dry interior, mainly for watering livestock.

 

 

Forests cover about 20 % of Australia, mostly in the Eastern Highlands and moist coastal areas. The vast majority of Australia's forest trees are eucalyptuses. Industries use the wood of some eucalyptus species for making paper and such items as floorboards and furniture. But eucalyptus wood is too hard for most other purposes, including most types of housing construction. Therefore, tree farms plant imported species of softwoods. Monterey pines, which originally came from California, have become Australia's second most significant timber trees, after eucalyptuses