The latest Agri-Food Scorecard has confirmed another exceptional year of growth for Tasmania’s world-class primary industries.
The report confirms the sector’s total farm gate value increased by seven per cent in 2018-19 to $1.9 billion, with total agri-food value also increasing to $2.92 billion.
This is a fantastic result that demonstrates the importance of our primary industries to our economy, and confirms we are on track to grow the value of Tasmania’s agriculture sector to $10 billion a year by 2050 - driving investment and creating local jobs when our State needs them most in our recovery from COVID-19.
The report also confirms our fresh produce is in demand, with the value of packed and processed food production increasing to $4.86 billion, and international agri-food exports reaching a record high value of $768 million.
It demonstrates the strong demand for our world-class premium produce across the world, with Tasmania producing 4.5 times more food than is consumed domestically.
We are continuing to implement a range of initiatives to ensure these great results continue, with the Budget confirming funding of $1.9 million over two years for the Agricultural Workforce Resilience package that has been critical in encouraging Tasmanians to roll their sleeves up through the Tassie Harvest Jobs, Take Your Pick campaign.
We are also delivering on our ongoing commitments through our comprehensive Agri-Food Growth Plan for 2018-2023 which recognises the importance of agriculture to the State’s economy and sets out the blueprint to ensure it can continue to grow.
The Report responds to stakeholder feedback in relation to capturing the value of some Tasmanian agricultural industries, and we have worked closely with industry and sought data from both the ABS and other reliable sources to provide a broader understanding of Tasmanian agriculture.
The 2018-19 Tasmanian Agri-Food Scorecard can be viewed online at: www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/scorecards
More Media Releases from Guy Barnett
More Media Releases from the Minister for Primary Industries and Water