Knowledge Economy NSW has a diversified and knowledge intensive economy. In the 2012-13 Fiscal year, it accounted for: • 46.1% of the
finance and
insurance industry • 35.7% of the
administrative and support services Industry • 44% of the
communications industry • 34% of the
manufacturing industry
Sydney is home to 42% of Australia's top 500 companies, and is the
Asia-Pacific headquarters for over 600 multinational companies. The state boasts a highly trained
multilingual workforce, with more than half of its residents aged 15–74 tertiary qualified, and 22% of the population speaking another language than English at home. NSW is home to more than half of Australia's fintech startups. NSW also has the largest number of total companies registered at 786,403 compared to 630,888 in Victoria and 443,729 in Queensland. is the most extensive crop in the state by hectare amounting to 39% of the continent's harvest. As such the
Puccinia graminis f. sp.
tritici (
Pgt) strain
Ug99 is a tremendous forward looking concern and
Plant Health Australia,
Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC), and the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre have already begun preparing for its arrival.
Sydney is a major port for the export of Australian wheat.
DPI is concerned about foreign
biotypes of
wheat pathogens carrying
virulence genes not yet a burden for Australians, including Ug99.
Pgt standard race 126 was the most common race here from 1929 to 1941, as it was for the whole of Australia. First detected on
Tasmania in 1954,
standard race 21 was the most common race by the next year in the southern part of this state,
Victoria, and Tasmania. vegetables, fishing including oyster farming, and forestry including wood chips. Bananas and sugar are grown chiefly in the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed River areas. Wool is produced on the
Northern Tablelands as well as prime lambs and beef cattle. The cotton industry is centred in the Namoi Valley in northwestern New South Wales. On the central slopes, there are many orchards, with the principal fruits grown being apples, cherries and pears. However, the fruit industry is threatened by the Queensland fruit fly (
Bactrocera tryoni) which causes more than $28.5 million a year in damage to Australian crops, primarily in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Approximately of vineyards lie across the eastern region of the state with wines produced in the Hunter Valley with the Riverina being the largest wine producer in New South Wales. Australia's largest and most valuable
Thoroughbred horse breeding area is centred on Scone in the Hunter Valley. (
Erysiphe necator, syn.
Uncinula necator), (
Plasmopara viticola), and Gray Mold (
Botrytis cinerea) are common fungal
diseases of grape here.
Fungicides are commonly used in this crop and so
fungicide resistance and
resistance management are a concern. DPI recommends rodenticides including alternatives for resistant targets. 40% of Australia's
lucerne (
Medicago sativa, alfalfa) is grown here. Due to the
introduction of the
spotted alfalfa aphid (
Therioaphis maculata) in the 1700s all varieties grown here must be resistant to it (see also ). In the late 1970s, had become so severe that the government convened a committee to advise them. The
Stock Medicines Board formed a committee from
University of New England,
CSIRO, the
Agriculture Department,
University of Sydney, and the
Victoria Department of Agriculture. The state's stations are so numerous and modern drugs so vital to modern production that in
livestock parasites of
sheep,
goats, and
horses had become widespread. (In fact the first known example of any anthelminthic resistance in the country was against
thiabendazole (TBZ) in
Haemonchus contortus of sheep in the
Northern Tablelands, reported by Smeal
et al., 1968.) The committee found that by the late '70s
bendazole resistances were common in
H. contortus,
Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and
Ostertagia circumcincta spp. of sheep and
Strongylidae spp. of horse. They advised that resistance would continue to develop and could not be avoided, and so
resistance management would be a constant companion for the industry in the future. == Future Investment ==