Our primary industries are a key pillar of the Tasmanian economy, and the latest Agri-Food scorecard released today shows the remarkable recovery by the sector from the devastating floods of June 2016.
Tasmania’s Agri-Food Scorecard 2016-2017 shows Tasmania recorded steady growth in the gross value of Agri-Food production to be worth $2.4 billion, with agriculture accounting for almost $1.5 billion and seafood production approaching $0.95 billion.
The report shows we continue to make real progress towards our targets to grow the value of Tasmania’s agriculture sector to $10 billion a year by 2050, as well as grow the value of our world class wild catch seafood and aquaculture sector.
Berries, wool production, field crops, vegetables and salmonids all recorded strong growth.
Notably, Tasmania also continues to cultivate far more food produce than we consume with food exports worth $604 million in 2016-17. It is clear that Tasmania continues to produce what the rest of the world wants.
I look forward to working with farmers, growers, and fishers across every sector to keep delivering on the Hodgman Liberal Government’s comprehensive Agrifood Plan which is supporting industry growth and jobs and opportunities in regional communities.
The protection of the State’s relative disease-free status through our stronger Biosecurity measures, our investments in research and innovation, farm productivity, and new market development, and the continued roll out of irrigation to deliver more water reliably to farmers, are all essential as we move towards our goals.
The Scorecard is available for download from www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au
More Media Releases from Guy Barnett
More Media Releases from the Minister for Primary Industries and Water