The Editor

David Vernon’s latest book, A Good Yarn, provides a fascinating insight into how popular myths are made and can wield influence not just at the time of their invention, but for years, even generations to come. A Good Yarn shines a spotlight onto seven historical events that have grown into Australian legends.

Banana freckle has been detected at a rural residential property in the Northern Territory’s Top End. Banana freckle is a fungal disease of banana leaves and fruit. There is no risk to human health from eating affected bananas. Banana freckle is a serious threat to the industry.

A new state of the art gene bank has been opened in Morocco by the  International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Gene banks play a crucial role in providing the materials required by researchers and global breeding programs to develop high yielding, resilient and climate adapted crops.

On the night of Thursday June 2, Quilpie Shire lit the way for Outback Queensland by staging special Platinum Jubilee celebrations for HRH Queen Elizabeth II at the spectacular Baldy Top lookout. The red earth of the renowned tourist destination turned purple as special purple coloured lights and fireworks were lit, along with several huge bonfires.   More than 250 locals and tourists alike gathered to pay respect to the Queen for her Jubilee.

Warwick O'Neill. Imagine you’re a young 20 year old bloke. You’ve just struggled across sixty miles of some of the toughest terrain on earth. You’ve had bugger all training, your weapons are obsolete because you’re “just Militia” and all the best stuff is being used by the Second AIF in North Africa. But here you are on the pointy end of the attempt to defend Australia from direct attack.

The state’s peak farming body has asked the NSW Government to invest in small scale on farm renewables to ease cost pressures for food producers. The cost of electricity had nearly tripled in the past decade.

Indonesia has 280 million people of which 38 million are farmers. Between them have 16 million cattle and 9 million pigs spread across 6000 inhabited islands, extending 5,500km East to West and 1,800km North to South. As the borders open and the world starts travelling again, we can look forward to the return of the 50 flights a week between Bali and Perth.   Each of these flights will carry the risk of the transmission of Lumpy Skin and Foot and Mouth Disease into Australia.

A pitch-perfect rural romance from the bestselling author of Magpie's Bend. Diana McIntyre and her four boys have had a tough eighteen months but with the love and support of her family, she believes their lives are finally back on track. Diana's dream of starting a flower farm has been the perfect diversion, with an elderly dahlia expert showing her the ropes. She won't have to do this alone.

Delegates at the River reflections annual water conference today heard about the impacts of the massive sand slug in the Barmah-Millewa reach of the Murray River and the consequences to water users, the environment and local community if no action is taken to address it.

Rex has confirmed the withdrawal of services from five regional centres: Bathurst; Grafton; Lismore; Kangaroo Island, Ballina ... "Qantas’ well-publicised predatory actions on Rex’s regional routes have meant that Rex no longer has the ability to cross subsidise these marginal routes. It is unfortunate that these regional communities are the collateral damage of Qantas’ bullying and heartless behaviour. This behaviour is all the more unconscionable after receiving over $2 billion in Federal bailouts over the past 2 years” : Rex’s Deputy Chairman, the Hon John Sharp AM.