Contributor, ARR.News

Food and Fibre Great South Coast released a comprehensive suite of interactive classroom resources designed to build school students’ exposure to Victoria’s diverse food and fibre sector. Drawing on a wide-range of resources from leading industry and education bodies, these free classroom resources have been selected and aligned with key areas of the Australian curriculum for teacher ease and direct student relevance.

In a significant step up in regional One Health and disease prevention capabilities, Wildlife Health Australia has achieved official designation from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) as a Collaborating Centre for Wildlife Health Risk Management. This new international wildlife collaborating centre based in Australia will ensure wildlife health is integrated into One Health decision-making across the Indo-Pacific region to benefit public health, biosecurity, animal health, food security and biodiversity.

National online removalist booking platform Muval, which has the most up-to-date internal migration figures showing where Australians are moving right now, has crunched the May numbers to show the impact a year on from the start of interest rate rises.

Premier Peter Malinauskas and his Cabinet Ministers will visit Kangaroo Island today [22 June 2023] and tomorrow as part of the State Government’s Country Cabinet. Demonstrating the Government’s commitment to regional South Australia, this is the fourth in a series of Country Cabinets – which has already taken the Premier and Ministers to Port Pirie & Port Augusta, Mount Gambier and Yorke Peninsula.

Industry and Hort Innovation are working together to prime the Australian almond sector for growth amid a 118 per cent rise in overseas demand over the past decade. From exporting 52,795 tonnes in 2013 to 115,049 tonnes in 2022, the almond industry is gearing up for further expansion. Delivered through Hort Innovation and led by the Almond Board of Australia, the $7M program aims to increase almond exports by at least 50,000 tonnes over the next three years and push export sales beyond $1 billion.

A travel subsidy for patients who access essential health care away from their home communities will be increased to help vulnerable Queenslanders manage cost of living pressures. The Palaszczuk Government announced that the recent state budget would fund an increase in the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme (PTSS).

Hundreds of mountain biking enthusiasts and their families gathered in Rockhampton for the recent Rocky Trail Academy Schools Competition and  the Fox Superflow ® Gravity Enduro race, two of the fastest growing mountain bike racing formats held in Rockhampton during winter ... “Mountain biking tourism is considered one of the fastest growing recreational activities globally, with AusCycle reporting a $136.9 million direct economic impact to Australia, per annum": Parks, Sport and Public Spaces Councillor Cherie Rutherford.

The NAB Rural Commodities Index* is now 25.2% below year-ago levels, largely reflecting steep declines in cattle and lamb prices and a high chance of an El Nino event forming in coming months. The Index dropped 0.7% in April and a further 3.4% in May, reports the NAB June Rural Commodities Wrap released on 21 June 2023.

NSW Farmers has welcomed a Parliamentary Inquiry into undergrounding powerlines, calling it a win for common sense and community safety. Multiple renewable energy projects proposed or under construction in regional areas would require new power lines to connect them to the grid, Energy Transition Working Group chair Reg Kidd said, but too often landholders were being ignored by the big developers.

Ecology, community and renewable timber were on the agenda last week as the NSW Minister for Agriculture, The Hon. Tara Moriarty MLC spent time in Bagawa State Forest near Coffs Harbour.  Minister Moriarty said the field visit provided a deeper understanding of how State forests are managed to balance multiple uses and objectives.