Agriculture is a vital sector of the NSW economy. In 2001/02 – the last financial year not dramatically impacted by drought – agriculture contributed $10.2 billion to the NSW economy and employed over 122 000 people. This represented 26% of the total value of Australian agricultural production. The value of exports of agricultural commodities from NSW (ie/ sourced from agricultural industries), amounted to $1.0 billion in 2006-2007. The drought has had a significant impact on the gross value of agricultural production in NSW, slipping to $7.7 billion in 2006/07, or 7.5% of the total gross value of agricultural production of 2005-06. In 'normal' production seasons, NSW farmers typically have the highest value of agricultural production of any State.

Agriculture is the biggest land user in NSW. An estimated 58.1 million hectares or 72.5% of the land mass of NSW was used for agricultural activity in 2007/08. Of that, approximately 8.5% or 6.8 million hectares was used for cropping2. There were 39,236 businesses with agricultural activity with an estimated value of agricultural operations of $5 000 or more in NSW as at 30 June 2008.