Crops

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development continues to support the growth and international competitiveness of all crop industries in Western Australia.

With a 2400 kilometre span from its tropical north to its temperate south, WA supports a broad range of cropping industries from rain-fed winter cereals through to irrigated horticultural crops.

In the 2012/13 year the WA cropping industries exported a total of $3.9 billion which comprised: $3.1 billion of cereals, $859 million of pulses, pastures and oilseeds, $142 million of horticultural crops. The major contributors to these exports were wheat ($2.7 billion), canola ($756 million), barley ($377 million), lupins ($42 million), carrots at $48 million, oats ($12 million), and strawberries at $5.5 million.

Articles

Carbon Farming: approved and proposed methodologies for carbon-offset projects

20 December 2013

Anyone wanting to undertake a carbon farming project to sell carbon offsets has to use an approved methodology to account for the carbon sequestered.
Carbon farming and Western Australian agriculture

10 December 2013

Carbon farming is the agricultural practices or land use to increase carbon stored in the soil and vegetation (sequestration) and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, soil or vegetati
Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture in Western Australia

2 December 2013

The Report card on sustainable natural resource use in agriculture: status and trend in the agricultural areas of the south-west of Western Australia was produced by the Department of Prim
Carbon farming: applying biochar to increase soil carbon

18 October 2013

Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich form of charcoal that can be added to soil to sequester carbon and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon farming management options in Western Australia

13 November 2013

The aim of carbon farming is to sequester more carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as part of Australia's response to climate change.
Ord River Irrigation Expansion Stage 3: Cockatoo Sands, Western Australia

26 November 2013

This page and attached reports are part of the assessments for expansion of Ord River Irrigation in Western Australia’s Kimberley region: the 6000 hectares of red loamy soils – the Cockatoo Sands –
Wheat yield potential and land management constraints in the south-west of Western Australia

10 November 2015

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development assessed the potential and reported wheat yield of the 18 million hectares of agricultural land in the south-west of Western Australia
Estimating soil texture by hand

27 February 2014

Estimating or measuring soil texture provides valuable information about soil properties affecting crop and pasture growth. Soil texture affects the movement and availability of air, nutrients and
Environmental impact of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers in high rainfall areas of Western Australia

10 December 2013

The most commonly used nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers in the high rainfall south-west of Western Australia can be leached into the groundwater and washed into waterways, resulting in serious e
Micronutrients (trace elements) for high rainfall pastures

10 December 2013

Micronutrient deficiencies can result from removal of agricultural products over many years, changes in soil acidity, or from large increases in plant biomass as a result of added nitrogen fertilis