Trevor Whittington, CEO WAFarmers

We have all heard of Artificial Intelligence, and most of you have heard of ChatGPT and some of you may have even tried it ... I decided I needed to get up to speed and get on board and try out the new version ... I asked it to: "Generate an opinion article similar in tone and length to what Trevor Whittington might write in the Farm Weekly on the potential of AI to replace traffic controllers with their stop-go signs on country road construction sites" ...

John Hassell. On 16 July members of the ‘Keep the Sheep’ group of industry peak bodies fighting to retain the live sheep trade signed off on a letter to the WA Minister for Agriculture, Jackie Jarvis, in response to the Albanese government's disgraceful vote to put live exports to the sword. Now I won’t print the whole letter, but it is worth knowing what WAFarmers, the Pastoralists and Graziers, WA Shearers, Livestock Transporters, Stud Marino Breeders and the Live Exporters Assn are asking in the letter, so I'll quote the key bits ...

You have to hand it to the Russians; they are a resilient mob. I had started to write a story back in May about how drought, frost, labour, and parts shortages were about to combine and smash their next grain harvest but luckily, I didn’t, as my predictions would have been way off the mark. As it turns out, despite what all the global grain experts said at the time, about Russia facing a difficult year, it seems they are on track for another big crop.

Last month, I attended the AgZero - WAFarmers PowerShift Forum, where we got the good oil on the exciting future that awaits us as we turn off coal and gas and turn on renewables ... it got me thinking about the cost-benefit of taking our farms across to the green side of the electricity equation and cashing in on all this free sunlight we have.

Remember Live Aid back in 1985? You know the big concert organised by Bob Geldof to help the millions starving in Ethiopia 1983-85 in a famine that cost a million lives?   Well, the music artists might have moved on but there is still plenty of hunger in Africa ... It seems the Europeans have replaced imperial colonialism with green colonialism, something that is cheered on by the new elites of the Western left.

John Hassell. Western Australia’s farmers are facing ‘Walls of Legislation,’ which is exactly what our members and in fact every farmer across Australia are facing under this current federal government. Walls of Legislation… or as I prefer to call it, “Another Brick in the Wall, Stopping Farmers from Farming.”

Does RSPCA approved extend to King Charles? Last week the RSPCA spent some of its donor’s money plus a share of the funds given to them by the taxpayers of WA to continue their long running anti-farming campaign by publishing a letter to the community in the West Australian. The paid advertisement reads like it was written by radical university animal activists, rather than what was once a highly respected animal welfare organisation.

WAFarmers sets out 13 killer arguments to keep the live sheep trade.

Every country town has at least one building that lies abandoned or underutilised which could be turned into a house or unit that could attract another worker or family to the community. We have old train stations and roads boards buildings, there are abandoned shops in the main street, empty pubs, unused halls, even farmhouses close to town left to deteriorate.

Don’t have a plumber, electrician, aircon mechanic, car mechanic, tyre shop, independent ag mechanic, hydraulic shop etc in your town? Then do something about it. The council or a group of farmers should get together to buy an industrial lot, build a lock up shed, offer it out for $1 a year then stand back and watch the rush.