SPR was commissioned to review the availability and quality of energy use data across the agricultural sector, including by fuel type, enterprise,activity, equipment and location. The review also catalogued domestic agriculture sector policies and programs related to on-farm energy efficiency and fuel switching to renewable or low-carbon energy sources.
The agricultural sector consumes some 107PJ of energy, attributed to petroleum-based liquid fuels and lubricants, 1PJ to fossil-based gas and 8 PJ equivalent of electricity (on grid and currently 68% derived from fossil fuels in 2022). Governments and industry currently do not have good quality data or understanding around overall agricultural energy consumption in Australia. Key data gaps include a breakdown of energy use by fuel type, by equipment, by enterprise type, by location and by time of day.
SPR's review assessed public domain, proprietary and protected data sources to identify domestic agriculture sector data, policies and programs related to on-farm energy efficiency and fuel switching to renewable decarbonised energy sources. Our final report identified high priority data gaps and policy issues for further consideration by government.