Agriculture makes an extremely important contribution to the Australian economy. However, interventions by foreign government policies in global agricultural trade are having a negative impact on Australian farmers. High import tariffs can lock producers out of markets, while certain forms of subsidies may unfairly distort production outcomes in exporting countries, leading to lower world prices.

In addition to hurting Australian producers and business, these trade-distorting practices can compromise global food security and imperil the livelihoods of farmers in developing nations. DFAT is working at every level – bilaterally, plurilaterally and multilaterally – to address these challenges, securing market access for Australian farmers and leading global efforts to reform agricultural trade rules to ensure they are fair and market-oriented.

The state of Australian agricultural exports

Australia has always exported more agricultural products than it imports, with over 70 per cent of its total value of agricultural production sent overseas.

In 2023-24 the value of Australia's agricultural exports was $71.6 billion – approximately 11 per cent of our total goods and services exports.

Australia's top 10 agricultural exports by value, 2023-24

^a fresh, chilled frozen; Note: Commodity group are based on the WTO definition of agriculture, which excludes fisheries, forestry and rubber.
Source: ABARES 2025. Agricultural Commodities September Quarter

Who buys our agricultural exports?

China is by far Australia's largest export market for agricultural products, accounting for 22.6 per cent of our total agricultural exports in 2023-24.

Australia's major agricultural export markets, 2023-24

Why we need agricultural trade reform

Millions of farmers in Australia and around the world are currently being disadvantaged by trade distortions in global agriculture and food markets. Such distortions include high tariffs, which decrease or eliminate the competitiveness of imports; government subsidies, which unfairly alter the costs of production; and guaranteed prices, which encourage overproduction.

These distortions can lead to government policy, rather than demand and competitive advantage, driving production decisions. This increases price volatility, damages livelihoods and threatens the food security of millions.

A major cause of distortions in agricultural markets is excessive agricultural subsidies. China, the European Union, India, and the United States spend well over US$100 billion on trade-distorting domestic support every year. These subsidies lead to lower world prices than would otherwise exist. The consequence is that farmers in other exporting countries are forced to compete against artificially cheap exports,  often being locked out of what might otherwise be lucrative markets. Farmers in developing countries bear the brunt of these policies most acutely , but all farmers are affected and the global economy is weaker as a result.

Through the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) 1995 Agreement on Agriculture, governments agreed to limits and disciplines on their interventions in agricultural markets. While these disciplines have provided a solid foundation, unfortunately they have proved insufficient to completely eliminate trade-distorting policies in agriculture.

How we are reforming agricultural trade policy

To increase food security without threatening farmers' livelihoods, the Australian Government is pursuing major agricultural trade policy reform.

Domestic initiatives

Australia has significantly reduced its own tariffs and other trade-distorting agricultural protections since the 1970s. According to the WTO, our simple, average, applied tariff on agriculture in 2024 was only 0.9 per cent.

Financial support for Australian farmers accounts for less than three cents in every dollar they earn. This is in stark contrast to countries with a highly subsidised agricultural industry, where domestic support can be higher than 50 cents per dollar.

Low tariffs and low subsidies promote innovation, competition and productivity in our agricultural sector, spurring Australian farmers to provide high-quality products to the rest of the world without the excessive, trade-distorting support used by other countries.

These progressive agricultural trade policy reforms have made Australia one of the world's most efficient agricultural producers. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), our producer support estimate (the amount that taxpayers pay to support agricultural producers) was 2.3 between 2021and 2023, the second lowest rate of all OECD countries.

Bilateral, regional and plurilateral initiatives

Through our negotiations in bilateral, regional and plurilateral free trade agreements, we aim to improve the access of Australian exporters to lucrative markets abroad.

For example, the Australia–United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which entered into force on 1 October 2025, provides Australian farmers and food and beverage producers with preferential access to the UAE´s growing market for premium food and agricultural products. Tariffs have been eliminated on products such as frozen beef and sheep meat, canola seeds, dried legumes and dairy. Similarly, the Indonesia–Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force in 2020, reduced or eliminated the tariffs, and increased the quotas, faced by Australian exporters of frozen beef, cattle, citrus, dairy, feed grains, sheep meat, sugar and some vegetables.

We also seek to improve the access Australian exporters have to foreign markets through negotiations on regional agreements, like the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Global initiatives

The challenge of government subsidies can only be addressed globally through the WTO, where Australia as permanent Chair of the Cairns Group of agricultural fair-trading countries is pushing for a free, fair, market-oriented agricultural trading system. We meet regularly with the other Cairns Group members to share information and develop WTO negotiating positions that influence global agricultural trade reform.

The next WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) will take place in Yaoundé, Cameroon in March 2026. As chair of the Cairns Group, Australia (through DFAT) is leading the WTO discussions on agricultural reform with the aim of delivering an outcome on trade-distorting support that ensures global food security and sustainability of agri-food systems.