THE annual ABARES survey of broadacre beef and dairy farming, and broadacre cropping is now underway.

ABARES executive director Karen Schneider said the survey was an opportunity to provide farmers, industry bodies and government with information essential to good business planning, investment and policy development.

Survey collection officers will be conducting face-to-face interviews over the next four months with more than 1900 farmers selected for the survey, Ms Schneider said.

The data provided by these farmers would help ABARES to build an accurate picture of the financial and production performance of broadacre and dairy farms across the nation.

Participation is completely voluntary and confidential.

“The information survey participants provide helps every farmer to make informed decisions at the farmgate,” Ms Schneider said.

“It also allows industry and government to ensure policies and programs supporting the agriculture sector are based on the best available evidence,” she said.

“I encourage selected farmers to support the future of our industries through this survey.”

Ms Schneider said participating farm businesses received a report that contains their farm survey results, together with the average results for their region.

The ABARES annual broadacre industries survey is funded by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Meat & Livestock Australia and the Grains Research & Development Corporation.

Results from past surveys of broadacre and dairy farms are available on the ABARES website: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/publications

Source: Dept of Agriculture