AASB 141

This Standard shall be applied to account for the following when they relate to agricultural activity:

(a) biological assets, except for bearer plants;

(b) agricultural produce at the point of harvest; and

(c) government grants covered by paragraphs 34 and 35.

This Standard does not apply to:

(a) land related to agricultural activity (see AASB 116 Property, Plant and Equipment and AASB 140 Investment Property).

(b) bearer plants related to agricultural activity (see AASB 116). However, this Standard applies to the produce on those bearer plants.

(c) government grants related to bearer plants (see AASB 120 Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance).

(d) intangible assets related to agricultural activity (see AASB 138 Intangible Assets).

(e) right-of-use assets arising from a lease of land related to agricultural activity (see AASB 16 Leases).

This Standard is applied to agricultural produce, which is the harvested produce of the entity’s biological assets, at the point of harvest. Thereafter, AASB 102 Inventories or another applicable Standard is applied. Accordingly, this Standard does not deal with the processing of agricultural produce after harvest; for example, the processing of grapes into wine by a vintner who has grown the grapes. While such processing may be a logical and natural extension of agricultural activity, and the events taking place may bear some similarity to biological transformation, such processing is not included within the definition of agricultural activity in this Standard.

The table below provides examples of biological assets, agricultural produce, and products that are the result of processing after harvest:

The following terms are used in this Standard with the meanings specified:

Agricultural activity is the management by an entity of the biological transformation and harvest of biological assets for sale or for conversion into agricultural produce or into additional biological assets.

Agricultural produce is the harvested produce of the entity’s biological assets.

A bearer plant is a living plant that:

(a) is used in the production or supply of agricultural produce;

(b) is expected to bear produce for more than one period; and

(c) has a remote likelihood of being sold as agricultural produce, except for incidental scrap sales.

A biological asset is a living animal or plant.

Biological transformation comprises the processes of growth, degeneration, production, and procreation that cause qualitative or quantitative changes in a biological asset.

Costs to sell are the incremental costs directly attributable to the disposal of an asset, excluding finance costs and income taxes.

A group of biological assets is an aggregation of similar living animals or plants.

Harvest is the detachment of produce from a biological asset or the cessation of a biological asset’s life processes.

The following are not bearer plants:

(a) plants cultivated to be harvested as agricultural produce (for example, trees grown for use as lumber);

(b) plants cultivated to produce agricultural produce when there is more than a remote likelihood that the entity will also harvest and sell the plant as agricultural produce, other than as incidental scrap sales (for example, trees that are cultivated both for their fruit and their lumber); and

(c) annual crops (for example, maize and wheat).

When bearer plants are no longer used to bear produce they might be cut down and sold as scrap, for example, for use as firewood. Such incidental scrap sales would not prevent the plant from satisfying the definition of a bearer plant.

Produce growing on bearer plants is a biological asset.

Agricultural activity covers a diverse range of activities; for example, raising livestock, forestry, annual or perennial cropping, cultivating orchards and plantations, floriculture and aquaculture (including fish farming). Certain common features exist within this diversity:

(a) Capability to change. Living animals and plants are capable of biological transformation;

(b) Management of change. Management facilitates biological transformation by enhancing, or at least stabilising, conditions necessary for the process to take place (for example, nutrient levels, moisture, temperature, fertility, and light). Such management distinguishes agricultural activity from other activities. For example, harvesting from unmanaged sources (such as ocean fishing and deforestation) is not agricultural activity; and

(c) Measurement of change. The change in quality (for example, genetic merit, density, ripeness, fat cover, protein content, and fibre strength) or quantity (for example, progeny, weight, cubic metres, fibre length or diameter, and number of buds) brought about by biological transformation or harvest is measured and monitored as a routine management function.

Biological transformation results in the following types of outcomes:

(a) asset changes through (i) growth (an increase in quantity or improvement in quality of an animal or plant), (ii) degeneration (a decrease in the quantity or deterioration in quality of an animal or plant), or (iii) procreation (creation of additional living animals or plants); or

(b) production of agricultural produce such as latex, tea leaf, wool, and milk.

The following terms are used in this Standard with the meanings specified:

Carrying amount is the amount at which an asset is recognised in the statement of financial position.

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. (See AASB 13 Fair Value Measurement.)

Government grants are as defined in AASB 120.

[Deleted]

An entity shall recognise a biological asset or agricultural produce when, and only when:

(a) the entity controls the asset as a result of past events;

(b) it is probable that future economic benefits associated with the asset will flow to the entity; and

(c) the fair value or cost of the asset can be measured reliably.

In agricultural activity, control may be evidenced by, for example, legal ownership of cattle and the branding or otherwise marking of the cattle on acquisition, birth, or weaning. The future benefits are normally assessed by measuring the significant physical attributes.

A biological asset shall be measured on initial recognition and at the end of each reporting period at its fair value less costs to sell, except for the case described in paragraph 30 where the fair value cannot be measured reliably.

Agricultural produce harvested from an entity’s biological assets shall be measured at its fair value less costs to sell at the point of harvest. Such measurement is the cost at that date when applying AASB 102 Inventories or another applicable Standard.

[Deleted]

The fair value measurement of a biological asset or agricultural produce may be facilitated by grouping biological assets or agricultural produce according to significant attributes; for example, by age or quality. An entity selects the attributes corresponding to the attributes used in the market as a basis for pricing.

Entities often enter into contracts to sell their biological assets or agricultural produce at a future date. Contract prices are not necessarily relevant in measuring fair value, because fair value reflects the current market conditions in which market participant buyers and sellers would enter into a transaction. As a result, the fair value of a biological asset or agricultural produce is not adjusted because of the existence of a contract. In some cases, a contract for the sale of a biological asset or agricultural produce may be an onerous contract, as defined in AASB 137 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets. AASB 137 applies to onerous contracts.

[Deleted]

An entity does not include any cash flows for financing the assets or re-establishing biological assets after harvest (for example, the cost of replanting trees in a plantation forest after harvest).

[Deleted]

Cost may sometimes approximate fair value, particularly when:

(a) little biological transformation has taken place since initial cost incurrence (for example, for seedlings planted immediately prior to the end of a reporting period or newly acquired livestock); or

(b) the impact of the biological transformation on price is not expected to be material (for example, for the initial growth in a 30-year pine plantation production cycle).

Biological assets are often physically attached to land (for example, trees in a plantation forest). There may be no separate market for biological assets that are attached to the land but an active market may exist for the combined assets, that is, the biological assets, raw land, and land improvements, as a package. An entity may use information regarding the combined assets to measure the fair value of the biological assets. For example, the fair value of raw land and land improvements may be deducted from the fair value of the combined assets to arrive at the fair value of biological assets.

A gain or loss arising on initial recognition of a biological asset at fair value less costs to sell and from a change in fair value less costs to sell of a biological asset shall be included in profit or loss for the period in which it arises.

A loss may arise on initial recognition of a biological asset, because costs to sell are deducted in determining fair value less costs to sell of a biological asset. A gain may arise on initial recognition of a biological asset, such as when a calf is born.

A gain or loss arising on initial recognition of agricultural produce at fair value less costs to sell shall be included in profit or loss for the period in which it arises.

A gain or loss may arise on initial recognition of agricultural produce as a result of harvesting.

There is a presumption that fair value can be measured reliably for a biological asset. However, that presumption can be rebutted only on initial recognition for a biological asset for which quoted market prices are not available and for which alternative fair value measurements are determined to be clearly unreliable. In such a case, that biological asset shall be measured at its cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Once the fair value of such a biological asset becomes reliably measurable, an entity shall measure it at its fair value less costs to sell. Once a non-current biological asset meets the criteria to be classified as held for sale (or is included in a disposal group that is classified as held for sale) in accordance with AASB 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations, it is presumed that fair value can be measured reliably.

The presumption in paragraph 30 can be rebutted only on initial recognition. An entity that has previously measured a biological asset at its fair value less costs to sell continues to measure the biological asset at its fair value less costs to sell until disposal.

In all cases, an entity measures agricultural produce at the point of harvest at its fair value less costs to sell. This Standard reflects the view that the fair value of agricultural produce at the point of harvest can always be measured reliably.

In determining cost, accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses, an entity considers AASB 102, AASB 116 and AASB 136 Impairment of Assets.

An unconditional government grant related to a biological asset measured at its fair value less costs to sell shall be recognised in profit or loss when, and only when, the government grant becomes receivable.

If a government grant related to a biological asset measured at its fair value less costs to sell is conditional, including when a government grant requires an entity not to engage in specified agricultural activity, an entity shall recognise the government grant in profit or loss when, and only when, the conditions attaching to the government grant are met.

Terms and conditions of government grants vary. For example, a grant may require an entity to farm in a particular location for five years and require the entity to return all of the grant if it farms for a period shorter than five years. In this case, the grant is not recognised in profit or loss until the five years have passed. However, if the terms of the grant allow part of it to be retained according to the time that has elapsed, the entity recognises that part in profit or loss as time passes.

If a government grant relates to a biological asset measured at its cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses (see paragraph 30), AASB 120 is applied.

This Standard requires a different treatment from AASB 120, if a government grant relates to a biological asset measured at its fair value less costs to sell or a government grant requires an entity not to engage in specified agricultural activity. AASB 120 is applied only to a government grant related to a biological asset measured at its cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses.

Notwithstanding paragraphs 34–38, not-for-profit entities shall account for government grants related to a biological asset in accordance with AASB 1058 Income of Not-for-Profit Entities.

[Deleted]

An entity shall disclose the aggregate gain or loss arising during the current period on initial recognition of biological assets and agricultural produce and from the change in fair value less costs to sell of biological assets.

An entity shall provide a description of each group of biological assets.

The disclosure required by paragraph 41 may take the form of a narrative or quantified description.

An entity is encouraged to provide a quantified description of each group of biological assets, distinguishing between consumable and bearer biological assets or between mature and immature biological assets, as appropriate. For example, an entity may disclose the carrying amounts of consumable biological assets and bearer biological assets by group. An entity may further divide those carrying amounts between mature and immature assets. These distinctions provide information that may be helpful in assessing the timing of future cash flows. An entity discloses the basis for making any such distinctions.

Consumable biological assets are those that are to be harvested as agricultural produce or sold as biological assets. Examples of consumable biological assets are livestock intended for the production of meat, livestock held for sale, fish in farms, crops such as maize and wheat, produce on a bearer plant and trees being grown for lumber. Bearer biological assets are those other than consumable biological assets; for example, livestock from which milk is produced and fruit trees from which fruit is harvested. Bearer biological assets are not agricultural produce but, rather, are held to bear produce.

Biological assets may be classified either as mature biological assets or immature biological assets. Mature biological assets are those that have attained harvestable specifications (for consumable biological assets) or are able to sustain regular harvests (for bearer biological assets).

If not disclosed elsewhere in information published with the financial statements, an entity shall describe:

(a) the nature of its activities involving each group of biological assets; and

(b) non-financial measures or estimates of the physical quantities of:

(i) each group of the entity’s biological assets at the end of the period; and

(ii) output of agricultural produce during the period.

[Deleted]

An entity shall disclose:

(a) the existence and carrying amounts of biological assets whose title is restricted, and the carrying amounts of biological assets pledged as security for liabilities;

(b) the amount of commitments for the development or acquisition of biological assets; and

(c) financial risk management strategies related to agricultural activity.

An entity shall present a reconciliation of changes in the carrying amount of biological assets between the beginning and the end of the current period. The reconciliation shall include:

(a) the gain or loss arising from changes in fair value less costs to sell;

(b) increases due to purchases;

(c) decreases attributable to sales and biological assets classified as held for sale (or included in a disposal group that is classified as held for sale) in accordance with AASB 5;

(d) decreases due to harvest;

(e) increases resulting from business combinations;

(f) net exchange differences arising on the translation of financial statements into a different presentation currency, and on the translation of a foreign operation into the presentation currency of the reporting entity; and

(g) other changes.

The fair value less costs to sell of a biological asset can change due to both physical changes and price changes in the market. Separate disclosure of physical and price changes is useful in appraising current period performance and future prospects, particularly when there is a production cycle of more than one year. In such cases, an entity is encouraged to disclose, by group or otherwise, the amount of change in fair value less costs to sell included in profit or loss due to physical changes and due to price changes. This information is generally less useful when the production cycle is less than one year (for example, when raising chickens or growing cereal crops).

Biological transformation results in a number of types of physical change—growth, degeneration, production, and procreation, each of which is observable and measurable. Each of those physical changes has a direct relationship to future economic benefits. A change in fair value of a biological asset due to harvesting is also a physical change.

Agricultural activity is often exposed to climatic, disease and other natural risks. If an event occurs that gives rise to a material item of income or expense, the nature and amount of that item are disclosed in accordance with AASB 101 Presentation of Financial Statements. Examples of such an event include an outbreak of a virulent disease, a flood, a severe drought or frost, and a plague of insects.

If an entity measures biological assets at their cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses (see paragraph 30) at the end of the period, the entity shall disclose for such biological assets:

(a) a description of the biological assets;

(b) an explanation of why fair value cannot be measured reliably;

(c) if possible, the range of estimates within which fair value is highly likely to lie;

(d) the depreciation method used;

(e) the useful lives or the depreciation rates used; and

(f) the gross carrying amount and the accumulated depreciation (aggregated with accumulated impairment losses) at the beginning and end of the period.

If, during the current period, an entity measures biological assets at their cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses (see paragraph 30), an entity shall disclose any gain or loss recognised on disposal of such biological assets and the reconciliation required by paragraph 50 shall disclose amounts related to such biological assets separately. In addition, the reconciliation shall include the following amounts included in profit or loss related to those biological assets:

(a) impairment losses;

(b) reversals of impairment losses; and

(c) depreciation.

If the fair value of biological assets previously measured at their cost less any accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses becomes reliably measurable during the current period, an entity shall disclose for those biological assets:

(a) a description of the biological assets;

(b) an explanation of why fair value has become reliably measurable; and

(c) the effect of the change.

An entity shall disclose the following related to agricultural activity covered by this Standard:

(a) the nature and extent of government grants recognised in the financial statements;

(b) unfulfilled conditions and other contingencies attaching to government grants; and

(c) significant decreases expected in the level of government grants.

[Repealed]

This Standard repeals AASB 141 Agriculture issued in July 2004. Despite the repeal, after the time this Standard starts to apply under section 334 of the Corporations Act (either generally or in relation to an individual entity), the repealed Standard continues to apply in relation to any period ending before that time as if the repeal had not occurred.

[Note: When this Standard applies under section 334 of the Corporations Act (either generally or in relation to an individual entity), it supersedes the application of the repealed Standard.]

This Standard becomes operative for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016. Earlier application is encouraged for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014 but before 1 January 2016. If an entity applies this Standard for periods beginning before 1 January 2016, it shall disclose that fact.

This Standard does not establish any specific transitional provisions. The adoption of this Standard is accounted for in accordance with AASB 108 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors.

In the previous version of this Standard, paragraphs 5, 6, 17, 20 and 21 were amended and paragraph 14 deleted by AASB 2008-5 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards arising from the Annual Improvements Project issued in July 2008. An entity shall apply those amendments prospectively for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009. Earlier application is permitted. If an entity applies the amendments for an earlier period it shall disclose that fact.

[Deleted by the AASB]

AASB 2014-6 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Agriculture: Bearer Plants, issued in December 2014, amended the previous version of this Standard as follows: amended paragraphs 1–5, 8, 24 and 44 and added paragraphs 5A–5C and 63. An entity shall apply those amendments for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016. Earlier application is permitted. If an entity applies those amendments for an earlier period, it shall disclose that fact. An entity shall apply those amendments retrospectively in accordance with AASB 108.

In the reporting period when AASB 2014-6 is first applied an entity need not disclose the quantitative information required by paragraph 28(f) of AASB 108 for the current period. However, an entity shall present the quantitative information required by paragraph 28(f) of AASB 108 for each prior period presented.

AASB 16, issued in February 2016, amended paragraph 2. An entity shall apply that amendment when it applies AASB 16.

AASB 2020-3 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Annual Improvements 2018–2020 and Other Amendments, issued in June 2020, amended paragraph 22. An entity shall apply that amendment to fair value measurements on or after the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning on or after 1 January 2022. Earlier application is permitted. If an entity applies the amendment for an earlier period, it shall disclose that fact.

Paragraphs 40–57 do not apply to entities preparing general purpose financial statements that apply AASB 1060 General Purpose Financial Statements – Simplified Disclosures for For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Tier 2 Entities.

IFRS 13, issued in May 2011, amended paragraphs 8, 15, 16, 25 and 30 and deleted paragraphs 9, 17–21, 23, 47 and 48. An entity shall apply those amendments when it applies IFRS 13.