We’ve seen some impressive rainfall in Brisbane over the last few days, but it appears parts of the state such as Warwick which really need it can do with a lot more to fill dams and help them get over the drought. A headline on the Warwick Daily News site reads “Farmers face new battle as hopes for big rains dashed”.

Let’s hope there’s much more rain to come for our farmers. An interview I saw on ABC News Breakfast with a Southern Downs community leader this morning reminded me of the importance of agriculture, and hence water, to so much of regional Queensland (check out the thematic map below based on 2016 ABS Census data accessed via the QGSO’s excellent Qld Regional Database).

The Local Government Area (LGA) with the highest percentage of employed persons working in agriculture is Boulia, a small community (with fewer than 500 residents) out on the Qld-NT border which specialises in cattle (see chart below).

The 25 LGAs with the smallest relative contributions from agriculture all have fewer than 2% of total employed people working in agriculture (see chart below). Those of us in the city need to be conscious we don’t forget about the importance of agriculture to our regional economies, and we should hope for further rain to water crops and help fill regional dams.   

Please feel free to comment below. Alternatively, you can email comments, suggestions, or hot tips to contact@queenslandeconomywatch.com