The 20 to 45 per cent fall in indexes of share market prices in mid-October 1987 was a worldwide phenomenon. It represented a sharp reversal to a five-year period of sustained increases in stock prices. It is important to assess the implications of the crash for Australian agriculture in the context of the world scene, because of the worldwide stock market crash, because of the interdependence of world financial markets and because of Australian agriculture's dependence on world markets for 60 per cent of its sales. This note looks at the likely implications of the stock market crash on Australian agriculture in terms of direct effects on land prices; direct effects on world economic activity; effects of lower economic activity on commodity markets; and some associated implications for the stance of government policies.