Australian vegetable-growing farms: Debt and equity web-report

Overview

Since 2007 ABARES has conducted an annual survey of vegetable-growing farm businesses to provide industry and government with information about farm-level production and the financial situation of vegetable growers. These web-reports present estimates of farm financial performance, farm debt, farm equity, farm capital and farm investment for the vegetable-growing industry from 2006-07 to 2016-17.

Key Issues
• Average farm debt of Australian vegetable-growing farms is estimated to have increased by around 15 per cent to around $542,900 per farm in 2015-16 (in 2016-17 dollars). From 2006-07 to 2015-16 the average equity ratio of vegetable-growing farms remained strong and fluctuated around 86 per cent. The average proportion of farm receipts needed to fund interest payments is projected to have fallen to a ten-year low 2 per cent in 2016-17.