Business & Farming

Maldon - Australia's first Notable Town

A notable day indeed

It was certainly not an average Mother's Day in Maldon, with fluttering gold hearts, music on and off the train, a brass band and even a bespoke song. That's because it was the Maldon Notable Day Out on Sunday 10 May, held in honour of the National Trust's 1966 declaration of Maldon as Australia's first Notable Town.

Mouse management

No-till farming may provide the right conditions for mice

Grain growers are urged to check their paddocks for signs of mice, with reports of activity in SA, WA and parts of northern NSW. CSIRO rodent expert Steve Henry, who is one of the lead researchers on GRDC-supported investment into mouse management, is reminding growers that conditions are ripe for mouse breeding at this time of year.

Manufacturing - Vic

Bosisto’s’ new best-in-class Eucalyptus Oil distillery boosts local manufacturing and sets a benchmark for sustainability  

Contributor, ARR.News

Innovation

New machine set to revolutionise Australian cropping

Greg Hamilton, ARR.News Sponsor
Agriculture
The Seedbed Conditioner creates the perfect seedbed and root zone for crops at a fraction of the current power (HP/KW) requirement and cost of seeding. Over 15 years of paddock-scale research this machine always produced large yield increase, which averaged 25 per cent with a range of 10–40 per cent.

Forgotten Australians

Forgotten Australians stories brought to life through new awareness resources

Contributor, ARR.News
Aging
More than 500,000 Australian children were placed into institutional or out-of-home care during the last century, with many experiencing neglect, abuse and a loss of identity that continues to shape their lives today. Often referred to as Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers, this cohort includes Stolen Generations, former child migrants, and former Wards of the State, including more than 400,000 non-Indigenous children.

Child care

After-school special: Monash OSHC celebrates first year of operation

Murray Pioneer
Business
Madison Eastmond. A Riverland out of school hours care (OSHC) program has recently celebrated one year of success. The Monash Primary and Preschool OSHC program has now been offering their service to the local community for over a year, with the initiative recording double the numbers of enrolments during the last school-holiday period since they opened their doors.

Tourism

Festival sparks up Copper Coast

Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Council
The Copper Coast was alight with art and creativity over the weekend, as locals and visitors flocked to FLAME Festival events at Wallaroo, Kadina and Moonta. A celebration of Food, Light, Art, Music and Entertainment, FLAME sparked into life on Friday, May 8...

Report

Bendigo Bank Agribusiness May insights: Good clip for wool, while avocado supply in the pits

Contributor, ARR.News

Tourism

Longreach and Winton named top towns by Australian Traveller

Contributor, ARR.News
Media Release

Regional migration

Ten million Australians chose the regions – The Iran oil shock is already pricing the next move: Find a Mover

Contributor, ARR.News
Business
As the country reaches a regional population milestone, Find a Mover’s decade of platform data shows what the diesel surge means for movers booking now — and what the structural floor reset means for the regional migration flow long-term ... For the regional Australians making the move right now, the window to do it at anything close to last year’s price is closing fast.

Bookselling

How I turned an empty supermarket window into a minimalist book display

Susanna Freymark, indyNR.com
Arts
My son sent me a link to an unusual bookshop in Japan known as the most minimal bookstore in the world. It sparked an idea to take the bookshop’s one room-one book approach to set up a display of my own book in the window of an abandoned supermarket in Kyogle.

Talking rural and regional

UFO’s and mice?

On today's episode the FBI has released some intel on UFO's plus we talk about the mouse situation in the CWB with Rob Proud from IGHC, along with all of your regional news and your weekly farming weather.

Critical minerals

GCM launches Fingerboards live weather monitoring to East Gippsland community: Gippsland Critical Minerals

Contributor, ARR.News
Community
Gippsland Critical Minerals has launched live weather monitoring on its website, giving the East Gippsland community real-time access to on-site conditions at the Fingerboards Project. Available now via the Monitoring and Studies page, the live feed draws data from two on-site weather stations: one south-west of the Fingerboards intersection and a second on the Mitchell River plateau, installed in response to feedback from landholders and community.  

Leadership

Exclusive interview with cricket legend Nathan Lyon

David Stewart, RYP International
Business
Cricket legend Nathan Lyon talks about the “Have You Got What It Takes Tour” ... "it’s a coordinated effort to influence leadership at every level of the community. By bringing together elite sport, leadership principles, and grassroots development, David and I want to support leaders across regional Australia to tackle their most important challenges. This isn’t just about building better athletes or better leaders, it’s about building stronger communities that can thrive."

Report

“Limited margin for error” for Australian dairy producers in the season ahead – industry report: Rabobank

Contributor, ARR.News

Pest

Locusts land in SA

Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Agriculture
Caitlin Menadue. Recent reports from farmers during the early stages of seeding have indicated an increase in locust activity across several cropping regions in South Australia, Grain Producers South Australia has warned. GPSA chief executive Brad Perry said producers from Yorke Peninsula, the Riverland, Eyre Peninsula and Flinders Ranges had reported locusts on farms.

Apprenticeships

From classroom to career: Local students get a head start

The Buloke Times
Business
The North Central LLEN is celebrating a major milestone since partnering with the Department of Education to support sixty local students to commence school-based apprenticeships and traineeships through the Head Start program over the past three years. 

Innovative industry

All about alpacas this National Alpaca Week, 2-10 May 2026

The Editor
Agriculture
Alpaca studs across Australia are opening their gates to show their flocks and share their wisdom about all things alpaca. Still a comparatively young industry in Australia, the Australian Alpaca Association, founded in 1990, organises National Alpaca Week to promote their favourite farm animal and its diversity of uses ... Learn a lot about alpacas by listening to the ARR.News interview with Taryan Mathews from Precision Alpaca Group.

Fibre and fashion

Global fashion brands head to Namoi Valley to trace Australian cotton story: Cotton Australia

More than 50 delegates from some of the world’s leading fashion brands, retailers and non-government organisations have travelled from across Australia and overseas to the Namoi Valley, as part of Cotton Australia’s flagship Camp Cotton event - reinforcing growing global demand for traceable, sustainably produced natural fibres.

Listen

Fiona Fox from Australian Rural & Regional News learnt a great deal about alpacas from Taryan Mathews from Precision Alpaca Group:

Seedbed Conditioner

New machine improves soil fertility and increases crop yields

Greg Hamilton, ARR.News Sponsor
Agriculture
A new machine designed and exhaustively tested at a field-scale over 15 years and 32 sites in Western Australia, Queensland and Pakistan has been shown to increase crop yields by 25 per cent, on average (range 10 to 40 per cent).
Seedbed Conditioner renovating beds

Coming up

Energy Transition Roadmap Webinar, 19 May 2026: AgriFutures Australia

Contributor, ARR.News
Agriculture

Ag adaptation

New roadmap to help primary producers navigate energy transition: AgriFutures Australia

Contributor, ARR.News
Agriculture
Australia’s primary producers have new guidance to navigate the shift in energy systems, with national research outlining both the challenges ahead and the practical pathways available. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Energy Transition Roadmap (2026–2036), released by AgriFutures Australia, provides a system-wide view of how agriculture, fisheries and forestry can adapt to changing energy markets and technologies while maintaining productivity.

Leadership

Despair is easy, hope requires effort

David Stewart, RYP International
Business
Despair is easy, but hope requires effort—real leadership means choosing action, connection, and progress, especially when times are toughest ... Leaders in regional areas don’t have the luxury of hiding behind corporate layers or distant decision-making structures.

Property

Sale of largest contiguous sheep station in Australia: Elders

Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD) has been appointed by Jumbuck Pastoral to undertake the divestment of a contiguous aggregation of three pastoral stations spanning 1,289,700 hectares. The aggregation is an iconic powerhouse of wool and sheep meat production, having the prescribed capacity to carry over 83,300 sheep.

Farming in a time of war

Epic Fury and Ukrainian farmers: Who will win?

Pavel Kuliuk, ARR.News
Agriculture
Since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury in the Persian Gulf, the price of diesel fuel and gas for cars in Ukraine has increased by almost 30 per cent. The price of the cheapest gasoline has risen by almost 15 per cent ... What do farmers do? What is the Ukrainian government doing?
Harvesting wheat in Ukraine

Farmland

Farmland prices set for continued “modest” growth in year ahead – Rabobank

Contributor, ARR.News

Inflation

Rabobank commentary: food price inflation remains entrenched above three per cent

Contributor, ARR.News
Agriculture
While headline annual inflation rose sharply in the March 2026 Consumer Price Index (CPI), the re-acceleration in inflation was not, at this point, food led, with food price inflation remaining similar to levels recorded since mid-2025.

Coming up

Upcoming webinar – What’s it take to develop offshore wind in Australia? Blue Economy CRC

Contributor, ARR.News
Business
This webinar will present the findings of the project ‘Pre-conditions for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in Australia’ in three work packages, outlining what it takes to build an offshore wind industry in Australia ... Monday 4 May 2026, 3-4pm (AEST)

Media

Editor is Lismore Local Woman of the Year

Contributor, indyNR.com
Literature
State MP Janelle Saffin visited Mallanganee on Friday, April 24 to present local writer and online editor of IndyNR.com Susanna Freymark with her Lismore Electorate Local Woman of the Year Award.

Arts administration

Meet Liane Wendt, the new Executive Director of the BAAKA Cultural & Arts Centre

Wilcannia News
Arts
The BAAKA Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Liane Wendt as the new Executive Director of the BAAKA Cultural & Arts Centre. Liane comes to Wilcannia from Derby in WA, where she led the Mowanjum Arts and Cultural Centre.

Hospitality

Iconic Kincraig reopens

Contributor, Naracoorte Community News
Business
Naracoorte's iconic Kincraig Hotel has officially come back to life, reopening its doors on April 14 after 18 months of extensive restoration by new owners, the Dean Group. The multimillion-dollar, five-star redevelopment delivers a fresh, family-focused venue for the town, featuring 24 modern accommodation rooms, corporate meeting spaces, an open bar, and a dining area complete with a children's play space.

Food production

Kooka’s closer to completion

The Buloke Times
Business
A highly anticipated project in Donald's industrial estate is nearing completion, with the new factory for Kooka's Country Cookies entering a transitional phase between the old location and the new. The impressive facility has been under construction since 2021, with international specialists engaged to install equipment along the production line.

Soil

From the ground up

A soil aeration trial on a Caldwell farm has delivered strong gains in feed production, helping carry more cattle through dry periods. Working across his 1100-acre farm east of Barham, Don Hearn has spent several years trialling soil aeration, a process designed to relieve compaction and improve pasture growth.

Fertiliser

Global fertiliser market facing prolonged period of strain from Middle East disruption – industry report: Rabobank

Contributor, ARR.News
Agriculture

Yield booster

MaxSil team

Making every kilogram of fertiliser count: Australian silicon solution aids farmers amid urea shortage

The Editor
Agriculture
Queensland company MaxSil is converting waste glass destined for landfill into ultrafine silica that improves plant uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium helping farmers do more with the fertiliser they have. ARR.News found out more from MaxSil founder David Archer and Oscar Ledlin, co-founder of parent company Sustainable Concrete Group.

Tourism - Classic craft

Stansbury and Port Vincent turn it on for Saltwater Classic

Yorke Peninsula Country Times
Community
Ned Thomas. The biennial Yorke Peninsula Saltwater Classic returned to Stansbury and Port Vincent across the weekend, April 17 to 19, delivering a high-energy celebration of boating in all its forms — sail, steam, electric and human-powered. Classic cars and coastal culture also helped lure the crowds who rolled in from across South Australia and interstate.

Leadership & You

You cannot have winning without being challenged

David Stewart, RYP International

Charity

Gina Rinehart commits $200 million to tackle veteran homelessness 

Contributor, ARR.News
Charity
Hancock Prospecting. In a move to recognise a national crisis and national disgrace, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting is contributing $200m to buy properties to help Australia’s homeless veterans and war heroes, the biggest ever private commitment for Australian veterans. 

Fuel crisis response - gas and minerals

Nolans mine: Bus-in, bus-out from Alice?

The shortages caused by attacks on Iran by Israel and the US have massively increased interest in the Territory’s huge gas reserves as well as several minerals. This is clearly the main talking point at the Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) this week in Alice Springs which may become the base for a major mine.

Fuel crisis response - tourism

Will the grey nomads come this winter? The fuel crisis puts outback tourism on the line

Kimberly Grabham, Back Country Bulletin
Business
Winter is normally the season that outback NSW towns look forward to most. The tourists arrive, the caravan parks fill up ... This year, the question being asked by operators from Broken Hill to White Cliffs to Menindee is whether that migration is actually going to happen.

Tourism - birdwatching

Bruny Island Lighthouse

Winter draws the twitchers – Bruny Island offers birdwatching and seasonal escapes: SeaLink

Contributor, ARR.News
Land & environment
Bruny Island, off the coast of southern Tasmania, continues to attract birdwatchers from around the world. Its diverse habitats and rich birdlife offer unique year-round experiences, but winter reveals a quieter, more immersive side.

Timber

Welcoming Hurford Hardwood as a NORPA Partner: NORPA

Contributor, ARR.News
Arts
NORPA is delighted to welcome Hurford Hardwood as a returning partner in 2026. Owners Andrew and Gaela Hurford have been long-term supporters of NORPA, generously contributing through both their business and personal philanthropy, including as founding donors of NORPA’s new home, The Joinery.

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