Farming facts
Numbers of farms and animals
As at June 2007 statistics showed there were approximately 63,000 farms in New Zealand.
This includes 29,000 grain, sheep and beef cattle farms and 18,000 dairy farms. Other farm types include deer, pigs, goats, poultry, and horticulture.
As at June 2008, New Zealand had 34.2 million sheep, 5.6 million dairy cattle, 4.3 million beef cattle, and 1.4 million deer.
AN ECONOMIC DRIVER
The New Zealand agricultural sector generated $18,926 million in gross revenue for the year ended March 2008.
Much of this gross revenue would have been spent in cities and towns, with intermediate consumption of $10,696 million. A further $2,219 million was paid to employees as wages and salaries and $3,359 million paid out as interest on loans.
Agriculture made a direct contribution to GDP of over $8,230 million (five percent of total GDP), excluding downstream processing. Including downstream processing, agriculture is estimated to contribute over 15% of total GDP.
Over the past 10 years, agricultural sector multi-factor productivity has grown at a rate of 1.8% per year, double the rate for the economy as a whole. This is important because in the longer term productivity is what determines economic growth and competitiveness internationally.
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
The table below highlights key statistics about New Zealand and the countries we like to compare ourselves with. New Zealand is a small country in land area, population and size of the economy. Agriculture is however a more significant contributor to the economy.
|
|
NZ |
Aus |
US |
Canada |
UK |
|
Land area (000 km2) |
269 |
7,687 |
9,827 |
9,985 |
245 |
|
2008 Population (000) |
4,173 |
20,601 |
303,825 |
33,213 |
60,944 |
|
2007 GDP ($US billion) |
128 |
909 |
13,840 |
1,432 |
2,773 |
|
2007 GDP per capita ($US PPP) |
26,400 |
36,300 |
45,800 |
38,400 |
35,100 |
|
2007 Direct Agriculture percent of GDP |
4.8* |
3.0 |
0.9 |
2.1 |
0.9 |
