Who is a primary producer?

A primary producer is an individual, trust or company carrying on a primary production business. You are a primary producer if you carry on a business of:

Plant and animal cultivation

• cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts (including seeds, spores, bulbs and similar things) in any physical environment
• maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase
• manufacturing dairy produce from raw material that you produced.

Fishing and pearling

• conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish, turtles, dugong, beche-de-mer, crustaceans or aquatic molluscs
• conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell.

Tree farming and felling

• planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled
• felling trees in a plantation or forest
• transporting trees or parts of trees that you felled in a plantation or forest to the place
• where they are first to be milled or processed
• from which they are to be transported to the place where they are first to be milled or processed.

You need to consider various indicators before you decide if an activity is a business of primary production. Taxation Ruling TR 97/11 - Income tax: am I carrying on a business of primary production? gives a comprehensive explanation of the relevant indicators, together with examples of how and where they apply.

What to read/do next

• Information for primary producers
• Starting a business essentials
• Small business entity concessions - home