Catchment scale Land Use of Australia - Commodities - September 2017

This dataset has been superseded. An updated version of this dataset is available from the ABARES website.

This dataset is the first national compilation of catchment scale commodity data for Australia (CLUMC), current as at September 2017. It has been compiled from vector land use datasets collected as part of state and territory mapping programs through the Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP). It complements the Catchment Scale Land Use of Australia - Update September 2017 dataset (ABARES 2017). Agricultural commodities are assigned to the Australian Land Use and Management (ALUM) Classification version 8 (ABARES 2016) classes based on; perceived intervention to the landscape, growing conditions and management, the intended use of the commodity, consistency with national and international reporting frameworks and standards, such as National Plantation Inventory, industry guidelines, Australian Bureau of Statistics, harmonised trade codes and ABARES commodity reports, where possible.

Commodities data were produced as part of catchment scale land use mapping and primarily uses fine-scale satellite data and information collected in the field (ABARES 2011, 2015). Field validation was critical for mapping commodities. The date of mapping (2003 to 2017) and scale of mapping (1:5 000 to 1:250 000) vary, reflecting the source data, capture date and scale.

Jurisdictions captured commodity data (where possible) for those areas most recently mapped in the Catchment scale land use of Australia - Update September 2017 (ABARES 2017) with a focus on horticultural and intensive animal industries. Other commodities which are tertiary classes of the ALUM classification (such as sugar cane, cotton, rice, olives and grapes) have been mapped by jurisdictions for some time and are included in this dataset. Agricultural commodity level mapping is available for all of the Northern Territory, and is likely to be complete for the following commodities nationally:

• Crops - rice, sugar cane, cotton
• Fruit - bananas (except Southern Queensland), avocados, mangoes, olives, grapes
• Nuts - macadamias
• Livestock - dairy cattle, pigs, poultry, horse studs, aquaculture.

Commodity information is selected from an agreed list of commodity names developed by ACLUMP partners. A commodity may be applied to one or many land use codes. For example the commodity 'wheat' is applied to class 3.3.1, 'Cropping' or 4.4.1, 'Irrigated cropping', while 'cattle' may be applied to any land use where cattle are observed including 2.1.0 'Grazing native vegetation', 3.2.0 'Grazing modified pastures', 4.2.0 'Grazing irrigated modified pastures', 5.2.2 'Feedlots' etc.

The commodity description is intended to add information to the catchment scale land use map which is not otherwise recorded in the ALUM Classification. Where there are several suitable commodity descriptions mappers are encouraged to record the most detailed description. For example when cattle breeds are known to be for milk production mappers would apply the commodity description 'cattle dairy' rather than just 'cattle'.