Beef

On 24 March 2026, Australia and the European Union agreed the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement. Prime Minister Albanese's optimistic announcement is at odds with the widespread criticism and disappointment evident in the responses from the Victorian Farmers' Federation, Canegrowers, the National Farmers' Federation, Queensland Farmers' Federation and the Australian Lot Feeder's Association

Australian rural confidence declined in the first quarter of 2026, with the nation’s farmers already concerned about cost pressures in the year ahead, even prior to the outbreak of the current Middle East conflict. The quarter one Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey found national rural confidence had slipped to a net reading of -9 per cent (down from six per cent in the previous survey) even before the outbreak of the war against Iran.

Australia’s beef exports are set to face some of the biggest adjustments compared with other international exporters as new import quotas announced by China in late last year reshape the global beef trade, Rabobank says in a newly-released report.

Around $150 million or more changes hands at the Naracoorte Regional Livestock Exchange (NRLE) each year from sales of 85,000 cattle and 500,000 sheep. And now Naracoorte can boast it has one of the nation’s top 10 saleyard canteens as well as the largest saleyard facility for cattle and sheep in South Australia.

Extreme weather, the rising Aussie dollar and fluctuating global demand have driven a complex start to the year for Australian agriculture, Bendigo Bank’s Agribusiness Insights team outline. Key insights from the latest Commodity Update include Pressure on producers as extreme weather impacts livestock, damages infrastructure...

Vytelle last week announced the commercial release of Vytelle SENSE™ Methane, a methane phenotyping system that costs a fraction of available systems and enables concurrent measurement of intake and sustainability. The technology was featured at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association CattleCon in Nashville on February 3, where producers saw live demonstrations.

Geopolitics remains the "dominant risk factor" for Australian agriculture in the year ahead, Rabobank says in its newly-released annual outlook, with the prospect that fast-changing global trade rules and volatile commodity prices are set to continue.

The debate about buffel needs to be broadened to take account of the weed's current and future commercial as well as social consequences. The pastoral industry, in love with the irresponsibly introduced plant, has leases over half of the NT, land that is owned by the people of the NT. From 31 December they will have just 43 days to comment on how the government should be dealing with the scourge, declared a weed in 2024, yet still expanding in the region's prime tourism areas.

Export market demand has supported elevated prices for Australian lamb, mutton and beef through much of 2025, with favourable market conditions expected to continue into the new year, according to agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank. In its Global animal protein outlook 2026, the bank’s RaboResearch division says high cattle inventories will maintain elevated Australian beef production, while sheepmeat production takes time to recover.

Normanby Aboriginal Corporation and Esparq Ventures have announced they have raised $600,000 as part of their mission to raise $10 million to commercialise, launch, and nationally scale their innovative and sustainable enterprise, Bush Beef ... ethical, climate-friendly food sources are in growing demand ... ARR.News found out more from Dominiqe Bird of Esparq Ventures.

Bendigo Bank’s 2026 Australian Agriculture Outlook report provides an in-depth perspective on supply, demand, and price outlooks for Australia’s major agricultural commodities for the first half of 2026.

Gus van Hart. For Kerang operator Michael Sommerville, a four-day visit to Samoa in November showed how a small, family-run business in northern Victoria could build deep ties with Pacific workers and end up advising the nation's Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Fuimaono Maiava Tito Asafo.

With ongoing increases in cattle slaughter and high carcass weights, Australia’s 2025 beef production is set to break new ground with record volumes, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank. Beef exports though are also up for the year – and will potentially also reach record levels – well and truly accommodating the increased supply.

Cattle producers in Northern Australia face unique challenges when adapting tools like virtual fences on their properties, but new research from Charles Darwin University (CDU) is set to break down the barriers to this technology. Virtual fences remotely map and control livestock such as cows by fitting the animal with a GPS collar that delivers audio cues and electric pulses to the animal if they approach a pre-set boundary.  

The Bendigo Bank Agribusiness Monthly Commodity Update for November contains several positive findings and a major milestone as the year draws to a close. Australian cattle exports reached the second highest monthly volume on record, the third-largest winter grain crop is waiting in the wings and there’s good news for consumers in the run-up to Christmas...

Global beef trade is poised for growth over the next five years, driven by increasing demand from Asia and export expansions by South American countries, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank.

Whether the risks posed by imports from Australia's trading partners are being sufficiently assessed and addressed, whether we really need to or should import certain products at all, and whether Australia is becoming complacent, resigned, or courting disaster for political Brownie points - such questions are being asked more often. ... This last week, Australia's biosecurity around beef and banana imports was called into question by David Littleproud, Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Agriculture Minister. ARR.News sought a response from Julie Collins, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry ...

...New Agtrends figures show Queensland primary industries is forecast to achieve a record GVP worth $26.79 billion for 2024-2025, a rise of 18 per cent for the sector since 2023-2024. The significant increase has been delivered through strong performance across key commodities...

Tasmania has emerged as a "standout success story" in Australian agriculture, powered by a vibrant and varied farming sector which has experienced sustained and widespread growth in recent decades, according to a new report. In the report, Gearing up for mature growth in Tasmanian agriculture, agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank says agriculture remains the cornerstone of Tasmania’s economy...

NIOA Santa Gertrudis GM Shannon Gardner rated the 2025 draft as "the best line of bulls we've had by far." Forty-two sons of $250,000 Yarrawonga Spartacus S316 (P) and $160,000 Riverina Roland Sanchez R88 (PP) headed up the 68 catalogued Classified S bulls.

Cattle prices have risen solidly across all categories, supported by recent rainfall across southern Australia and strong demand from northern lot feeders. ANZ’s latest Agri InFocus report highlights the Female Slaughter Rate (FSR) as a key indicator of destocking activity over the past year, and the resulting surge in restocker demand.