The south coast region of Western Australia has traditionally been viewed as a ‘rural’ area. In Australian terms, this means that the majority of economic production has been agricultural. As I will explain shortly, this balance is shifting rapidly. Among other important trends in the past decade, in
the north-eastern part of the subregion, there is a trend towards fewer, larger broad acre farms focusing on traditional and diversified cropping and livestock industries. In the south-western part of the subregion, landholdings are becoming smaller with more focus on intensive and diverse agricultural systems. New industries that have been established or are evolving in the subregion include viticulture, timber production, farm forestry, olives and fishing. The subregion is also renowned for its tourism, recreational and nature conservation values. (SCRIPT 2005:14)
Table 7.1 provides an explanation of current land use.
Source: Derived from SCRIPT (2005:78).
The establishment of tree crops in the past decade, particularly in the higher rainfall areas, has marked a significant change in the region’s land uses. By far the largest areas have been planted to blue gums. A woodchip plant at Mirambeena, north of Albany, and export facilities at the Port of Albany are now significant contributors to the region’s economy (SCRIPT 2005:76).
Some 354 867ha of a total of 617 155ha (57.5 per cent) are in production. It should be noted that in real terms the value of agricultural land has remained stable.
There has, however, been a shift, not only in production, but in off-farm activity. In line with the rest of Australia, farmers in the south coast region need to supplement their income, as highlighted in Figure 7.6.
Source: Stehlik (2007).