Contributor, ARR.News

The Rural Bank Australian Farmland Values Report has tracked every farmland sale annually for almost three decades and is the longest running analysis of the farmland market in Australia.  This special edition, supplemented by farmland sales data from DAS (Digital Agriculture Services), is a mid-year market update to inform vendors and purchasers about movements in transaction volumes and sale prices around Australia since the issue of the annual edition in May 2023.

After three consecutive strong harvests, Australian grain and oilseed production is set to return to more modest totals for the current season as drier growing conditions ‘hit home’, Rabobank says in its just-released 2023/24 Australian Winter Crop Forecast. The bank says Australia is on track to harvest a total winter crop of 48.72 million tonnes for the current season.

The 22nd Limestone Coast Wine Show ... a panel of 16 expert critics led by new chief of judges Philip Rich will begin tasting nearly 450 of the Limestone Coast’s best wines in the heart of terra rossa country at the Coonawarra Soldiers Memorial Hall. This year’s guest international judge, Sweden-based wine consultant Madeleine Stenwreth, is among those relishing the role of sampling so many quality entries over the coming days.

Australian grain producers have delivered another firm message to Canberra about their unambiguous opposition to paying the Federal Government’s proposed 10 per cent biosecurity levy ... “GPA understands the Federal Government’s intent to deliver a sustainable funding model for biosecurity, but the proposed policy fails to deliver this outcome on multiple levels”: GPA Chair and WA grain producer, Barry Large.

One hundred homes have been built in one hundred days as the Territory Labor Government’s remote housing program reaches a new milestone of 1200 new builds ... Several major construction contracts have powered a building blitz with a pipeline of works rolling out across dozens of remote communities throughout the Territory, such as a $26.5 million tender recently released in Gunbalanya to build 24 new homes and upgrade another 18, $5.2 million for 11 homes in Beswick, and $6.8 million for more homes in Maningrida.

Australian sugar, barley and feed grain prices were stronger in September, in contrast to cattle prices which have reached their lowest levels since late 2014, according to NAB’s October Rural Commodities Wrap ... the Wrap reports the NAB Rural Commodities Index* fell 4.6% in September and is now 34% below the peak in rural prices back in June 2022.

Seen our new celebrity bird of the year the Swift Parrot flapping around? Now it’s time to celebrate our feathered friends by participating in the Aussie Bird Count ... This year celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Aussie Bird Count, BirdLife Australia is proud to be the voice for Australia's birds for over a century.

The Northern Territory Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kerala State Government, India to develop further economic, social and cultural relationships between our two regions. This is the first MOU the Northern Territory Government has entered into with an Indian state, and formalises and reinforces the relationships between the two jurisdictions.

The Rock Show Society

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has told the Federal Government it opposes a new biosecurity levy on farmers, saying the proposed levy may erode farmer confidence in the entire levy system. In the NFF’s submission to the Introduction of the Biosecurity Protection Levy: Consultation Paper, Chief Executive Tony Mahar said while the peak farming body supports ongoing efforts to ensure Australia’s biosecurity system is well resourced, it does not support this policy.