About my region - Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory includes the major centres of Belconnen, Canberra, Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. The region covers a total area of around 2,360 square kilometres or 0.03 per cent of Australia's total area and is home to approximately 411,700 people (ABS 2018). Jervis Bay is not included in the Australian Capital Territory region in this report.

Agricultural land in the Australian Capital Territory occupies 370 square kilometres, or about 15 per cent of the region. Areas classified as conservation and natural environments (nature conservation, protected areas and minimal use) occupy 1,500 square kilometres, or 64 per cent of the region. The most common land use by area is nature conservation, which occupies 1,350 square kilometres or 57 per cent of the Australian Capital Territory (ABARES 2016).

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from the November 2019 Labour Force Survey indicate that around 231,000 people were employed in the Australian Capital Territory.

Public administration and safety was the largest employment sector with 64,700 people, followed by professional, scientific and technical services with 25,700 people and health care and social assistance with 24,700 people. Other important employment sectors in the region were education and training; construction; and retail trade. The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector employed 200 people, representing less than 1 per cent of the region's workforce.

Value of agricultural production

In 2017–18, the gross value of agricultural production in the Australian Capital Territory was $11 million, which was less than 1 per cent of the total gross value of agricultural production in Australia ($59 billion).

The most important commodities in the Australian Capital based on the gross value of agricultural production were cattle and calves ($2.4 million), followed by wool ($1.2 million) and poultry ($1.2 million). These commodities together contributed 45 per cent of the total value of agricultural production in the region.

Number and type of farms

ABS data indicate that in 2017–18 there were 33 farms in the Australian Capital Territory with an estimated value of agricultural operations of $40,000 or more. The territory contains less than 1 per cent of all farm businesses in Australia.

Note: Estimated value of agricultural operations $40,000 or more. Industries that constitute less than 1 per cent of the region's industry are not shown.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2019

Farms in the table above are classified according to the activities that generate most of their value of production. Beef cattle farms (15 farms) were the most common, accounting for 45 per cent of all farms in the Australian Capital Territory, and less than 1 per cent of all beef cattle farms in Australia.

Estimated value of agricultural operations (EVAO) is a measure of the value of production from farms and a measure of their business size. Around 58 per cent of farms in the Australian Capital Territory region had an EVAO between $50,000 and $150,000. These farms accounted for 15 per cent of the total value of agricultural operations in 2017–18. In comparison, 22 per cent of farms in the territory had an EVAO of more than $500,000 and accounted for an estimated 67 per cent of the total value of agricultural operations in the Australian Capital Territory in 2017–18.

In 2015–16, the total plantation area in the Australian Capital Territory was 7,400 hectares, comprised solely of softwood plantations. The main species planted is radiata pine (Pinus radiata).

In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 128,400 hectares of native forests in the Australian Capital Territory region, comprised mainly of Eucalypt medium open (86,500 hectares) and Eucalypt medium woodland (29,700 hectares) forest types. There were 114,900 hectares of the native forests in nature conservation reserves and 8,900 hectares were leasehold.

From 2010–11 log harvest volumes and values for the Australian Capital Territory are included in the New South Wales state figures.
Sales and service income for the Australian Capital Territory forest and wood product industry was not reported in 2015–16.

In 2016, the Australian Capital Territory forestry sector employed 384 workers (0.2 per cent of the total employed workforce in the Australian Capital Territory) compared with 502 (0.3 per cent) in 2011. The number of people employed includes the following categories: forestry, logging, support services, timber wholesaling; and wood, pulp, paper and converted paper product manufacturing.

ABARES 2016, Land Use of Australia 2010–11, ABARES, Canberra, May.

ABARES 2018, Catchment scale land use of Australia – December 2018, Canberra, December.

ABS 2018, Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2017, cat. no. 3235.0 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, accessed 19 September 2017.

ABS 2019a Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, November 2019, cat. no. 6291.0 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, accessed 15 January 2020.

ABS 2019b Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, 2017-18, cat. no. 7503.0 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, accessed 15 May 2019.