While Australian primary producers are understandably uneasy over wars and tariffs, they are currently enjoying exceptional prosperity, asAlan Austinreports.

ARE LABOR STRATEGISTS possibly regretting the decision to sit out next Saturdays Farrerby-election? Recent economic data show that rural communities are among the nations greatest beneficiaries of the Albanese Governments revival of the economy, in general, and exports, in particular.

Might Labor have been in with a chance? We shall come back to this.

Booming farm production

Livestock sold for meat for local consumption and export set fresh records in virtually every category last financial year. Thats according to datareleasedlast Tuesday by the Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The value of beef cattle butchered rose 33.7% on the previous year to $17.1 billion. Sheep sold for lamb was up an impressive 37.7% to $5.1 billion. Total livestock disposals, including pigs, poultry and other animals, rose 27.0% to a thumping $28.4 billion. Farmers also fared well with milk, wool, cereals and many other products. See chart below.

A figure caption for your reading pleasure

Record or near-record acreages were sown last financial year of wheat, barley, oats, lentils and chickpeas. Most of these yielded record tonnages and revenues.

Record overseas buyers

ABSexport dataconfirm that recently restored trade relations have greatly benefited primary producers.

Total meat exports in 2025 hit a record $24 billion, up 23.4% on the previous high the year before. By way of comparison, the highest under the hapless Coalition was $16.9 billion in 2020.

Dairy products and eggs generated a record $3.5 billion last year, beating the previous high of $3.23 in 2022. The record before that, surprisingly, was $3.16 billion back in 2002.

Fruit and vegetables traded jumped 35.3% on the previous record the year before, up 84.3% on 2021.

According to independentauthorities, these results follow concerted efforts to lift productivity, maximise water use and improve sustainability with plant science innovation.

Detailedanalysisby the Bendigo Bank reports that agricultural exports now account for 15.1% of Australias total exports:

As job losses, inflation and weak growth impact many economies, Australia advances apace.

Pressure mounting as the war drags on

Of course, past outcomes do not guarantee anything in the future, as farmers well understand. Seasons change, prices fluctuate,miceorlocustplagues hit suddenly, as docyclonesandbushfires.

And now the extraordinary folly of the mentally declining isolationistU.S. Presidenthas endangered supplies of the fuel and fertilisers primary producers need. That, on top of his destructivetariffpolicies.

Fortunately, Australias Government has succeeded in ensuring supplies of all essentials. So far. The latest ABSimportdata shows quantities are lower than last year and prices are higher, but that adequatevolumesare still arriving.

Most fuel disruptions in country towns are the result ofpanic buyingand stockpiling in jerry cans rather than inadequate imports.

No need for alarm just yet

This column has shown that the current medianarrativethat Australians are doing it tough, both in the cities and in the bush, is not supported by any data.

Were it true that consumer confidence is at an all-time low, as theFinancial ReviewandABC Newsinsist, then consumer spending would be declining.

It isnt. Australians made 12.5 millionoverseas tripsin 2025, the highest for any year by far. Fee-paying private schools now have recordenrolments, including thousands of children of families working rural properties across the continent.

The latest ABS household spendingreport, for February, reveals household spending continues to rise, and was 4.6% higher in February 2026 than in 2025.

According to ABS head of business statisticsTom Lay:

So while Australians shake their heads forlornly when polled about the state of the economy and agree with the stereotypical farmer that well all berooned, they are actually living theirbest livesever. Which brings us back to the Farrer by-election and who should run the show.

Only once has Australias economy achieved near-perfect health. The newsrooms failed to track and record this for 2025, Alan Austin reports.

Electoral test in the bush

Had Labor strategists decided to contest this seat, the outcome may well have been different from whatever eventuates next weekend. Labor would be extremely unlikely to win, given it got only 15.1% of the primary vote at the 2025 General Election. That was, however, substantially more than One Nations 6.6%, three times the Greens 4.9% and not that far below independentMichelle Milthorpes 20%.

Without Labor standing, the latest polling suggests the two leading candidates are Milthorpe, a teacher and business owner who is recontesting, and One NationsDavid Farley. As the Two Barriesobservedlast week, this is the first time a seat is being fought out by two candidates, neither of whom belongs to a major party.

Most sensible Australians will be hoping Milthorpe trounces Farley, but that is not certain, especially as the Liberal Party ispreferencingOne Nation third after the Nationals, as is Family First.

If Labor is as respected in the regions as data from the ABS and elsewhere suggests it should be, Labor could have directed preferences away from One Nation.

The country will not be served by more anti-immigrant, anti-Indigenous, anti-science, far-right conspiracy theorists in any Australian parliament.

The electoral division of Farrer was named afterWilliam Farrer, an innovative agriculturalist and pioneering farmer of both sheep and wheat. He would be mightily chuffed at the state of primary production right now.

And being a migrant from England, married to the daughter of Italian settlers, would be appalled at One Nation.

Alan Austinis an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him@alanaustin001and [email protected].

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