Australia's farm production outlook

The value of goods produced by Australia's agriculture industry is expected to dip this financial year amid the drought affecting eastern states.

THE OUTLOOK FOR AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE IN 2018/19:

* The volume of farm production is forecast to fall six per cent in 2018/19 compared with the year before, on the back of the drought in eastern states.

* Australian farmers are expected to produce $58 billion worth of goods, with that value down by four per cent from the previous year.

* The average income for all broadacre farms - those with large-scale crops - is projected to fall by 18 per cent from $201,300 per farm in 2017/18 to $173,000 in 2018/19.

* That is still well above the 10-year average of$140,000 per farm.

* Export earnings are expected to decline by six per cent in 2018/19, and could cut national economic growth in the year by 0.2 percentage points.

* Higher commodity prices and the weak Australian dollar have been supporting export returns.

* Threats to export earnings have increased, including trade tensions between the United States and China and increasing competition in many important markets.

(Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences)