It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture,[2] and is the site of one of Murray Goulburn Co-operative's eight processing plants in Victoria.

Maffra is a detour off the Princes Highway and is near Sale, Stratford, Newry, Tinamba, Heyfield and Rosedale.

[1] The town began as an outstation of the region's first cattle run, Boisdale, named by pioneer grazier Lachlan Macalister after a village on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

Maffra was long the beef cattle capital of West Gippsland and, for many years, the only beet sugar processing centre in the country.

The Wellington Shire Council removed a row of 100+ year old trees that line the main street because of disease, but has since replaced them with young oaks.

No specific source for the contamination was immediately identified, as these plants are not normally found in southern Australia.

[4] This toxicity has previously been seen in dogs fed meat from Australian feral camels, common in northern Australia.