Australia’s food system
The Australia’s food system figure lists aspects of the Australian food system:
• Agriculture occurs on 50% of the land area.
• 0.54% of agricultural land is irrigated.
• Australian farmers are some of the least subsidised in the world.
• There are 87, 880 agricultural businesses.
• 50% of agricultural output is produced by 10% of farms.
• More than 70% of agricultural production is exported each year.
• A typical food basket travels 21,000+ kilometres to reach consumers.
• There are 7,200 supermarket stores.
• The top four supermarket chains account for 82% of retail turnover.
• There are 46,000 fast food outlets.
• There are $1,644 of ultra-processed food sales per person per year.
• There are 13,800 food manufacturers.
• The food sector is Australia’s largest manufacturing sector.
• There are 206,000 people employed in food manufacturing.
• There are 26 million consumers.
• Food consumption makes up 10% of household spending.
• 105 kg per person of meat each year is consumed.
Australia’s food system. Citation: Food System Horizons 2024.