Tasmania’s agri-food sector is a major contributor to the state’s economy and has considerable potential for growth.
The Hodgman Liberal Government’s comprehensive Tasmania’s Sustainable Agri-Food Plan 2016-2018 is focusing the collective efforts of Government and the private sector on policies and initiatives to grow Tasmania’s agriculture and food sector, including seafood, and in doing so support farmers, fishers and rural communities.
The release of our agri-food Plan update today demonstrates how we are making real progress towards our targets to grow the value of agriculture to $10 billion by 2050, as well as grow the value of our world class seafood and aquaculture sector.
To meet our targets we are also rolling out a range of initiatives spanning industry development, irrigation, biosecurity, investment attraction, infrastructure, skills, branding, agricultural education, research and development, fisheries and aquaculture.
The latest Tasmanian Agri-Food ScoreCard 2015-2016, also released today, shows that our measures are working and the gross value of Tasmania’s agriculture and seafood sectors continued to grow, increasing by 5.9 per cent in the 2015-16 financial year.
Agriculture contributed $1.48 billion to the agri-food total, growing by 3.3 per cent, and dairy remains the highest value agricultural commodity worth $386 million.
This was a resilient performance in a year that was dominated by dry conditions, followed by the devastating June 2016 floods.
The ScoreCard also shows that the value of seafood grew by 10.4 per cent to $910 million, with salmon worth $704 million.
Tasmania’s Sustainable Agri-Food Plan 2016-2018 update and Tasmanian Agri-Food ScoreCard 2015-2016 are available for download from www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Primary Industries and Water