Agriculture

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says proposed changes to the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme as flagged by the Grattan Institute would further increase the already sky-high cost of living pressures on consumers and further financially strain farmers ... “It’s essentially a tax on food at the worst possible time and an unnecessary cost farmers can’t burden”: VFF President Emma Germano.

Food and Fibre Great South Coast and our valued partners have collaborated to bring together specialists to the region for a night of discussion ... It’s vital we have the best information informing our decisions.

From 2023, the Limestone Coast Women in Ag Network will be coordinated by WoTL (Women Together Learning), an organisation which is dedicated to inspiring and supporting women in agribusiness around Australia.

Gold nanorod probes combined with an optical microscope can now be used to detect signs of a highly contagious and lethal virus that poses a major threat to the swine industry worldwide. The state-of-the-art technology has been developed by Chinese and Australian biomedical scientists to diagnose porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), a disease that has wreaked economic havoc on piggeries in recent years.

Australia’s volunteer tagging database Infofish recently became the first citizen science tagging program in the world to tag 1 million fish since its inception in 1986 ... “Community-based fish tagging has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the movement patterns and growth rates of many fish species, and the Infofish program is recognised as a world leader in this space": Mark Furner, Qld Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries.

Australian grain leaders are calling on other growers and farm businesses to show generosity and donate a tonne of grain or more, to help support Ukraine farmers and rural communities. The #AUSSIEGRAIN4UKRAINE initiative was established last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to give Australian grain producers a way of supporting their farming colleagues and communities facing the continuing challenges and horrors of war.

If you think you’ve had a rough couple of years, spare a thought for beekeeper and honey producer Lindsay Callaway of Warral Maldon. Hard on the heels of the Covid lockdowns came the discovery in NSW of the varroa mite in June last year.  

The unusually cold summer weather continued as community members and visitors gathered in Riverside Park Barham to eat together and celebrate the broader community ... "There's no doubt, I often thought the biggest influence in local communities is the volunteers": guest speaker Keith Cummins from Cohuna ... Keith believes one of the biggest dangers we face is the inability to have discussions and listen to other people’s ideas.

Members of the Project Kingfish research team visited Lord Howe Island (LHI) in December. Project Kingfish is a research program funded by the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust that aims to enable collaboration between scientists and expert anglers to improve understanding of the East Australia yellowtail kingfish stock.

Sammy Spark. Fancy a trip down to beautiful South Gippsland? The Foster Show is located in Foster, the gateway to Wilsons Prom. The Foster & District Agricultural Show has been showcasing the region’s agriculture and has been bringing the community together for 115 years.

Rochester Agricultural & Pastoral Association, Inc.

After three consecutive wet years and multiple high production seasons in the north, experts are warning growers that the old rules of thumb for calculating nitrogen (N) rates won’t cut it this season.

Australian exporters will see faster export documentation and easier access into Singapore’s markets, as certification between Australia and Singapore moves towards paperless trading ... “Using electronic export certification (eCert) means the relevant information is sent directly to overseas government agencies almost instantly, allowing for quicker clearance times so producers can get their goods to market faster”: A/g Deputy Secretary Nicola Hinder.

Australia’s most trusted rural charity, Rural Aid, has joined forces with the Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association (KPCA) to create a fundraising drive for flood-affected graziers in Western Australia’s Kimberley region ... Ex-tropical cyclone Ellie brought unfathomable volumes of rain to Fitzroy River catchments – up to 800 millimetres in a week for some locations - resulting in a flood that exceeded previous water levels by more than two metres. Properties such as Yeeda Station, just outside of Derby, were battling up to 40 kilometres of flood frontage.

The 24th International Seaweed Symposium will be held for the first time in Australia. It will take place in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia’s most southern state, from Sunday 19th to Friday 24th February 2023.

Beekeepers can now apply for a permit to move European honey bees and other related materials into Queensland from the NSW General Emergency Zone (GEZ) after this zone was declared free of varroa mites ... “All states and territories across Australia have reached unanimous agreement that varroa mite is not present in the GEZ”: Qld Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, Mark Furner.

A committee charged with assessing the benefits, risks and costs of implementing eID tags for sheep and goats in SA has survived a tied 10-10 vote of no confidence. A call for its removal came after a two-hour debate where farmers spoke for and against mandatory eID tags in sheep and goats.

If a truck load of vendor-bred sheep go direct from a farm to an abattoir, should producers pay for the time, effort and cost of each animal having a $2.50 electronic identification (eID) ear tag ... Current figures suggest around $30 million will be ripped out of rural communities and their service towns by the scheme.

Why do we have so many new car dealerships, machinery dealerships and electronic shops when the buyers are embracing the world of virtual e-commerce platforms for purchasing everything from clothing to cars? ... We need a revolution in how we buy and sell our farm machinery as the hidden costs of an old outdated system are being loaded onto the prices making expensive equipment even more expensive.

ABC rural reporter Angus Verley was on location last Friday, January 20 in the flood ravaged Benjeroop area ... “We haven’t been flooded out in 100 years but we’ve been flooded out twice in 13 years,” Mr Schultz told Mr Verley. “Something’s not quite right and that’s what we have got to get to the bottom of.”

The ongoing and thorough debate on Australian Rural & Regional News on native forestry in 2022, highlighted directly and indirectly a few myths on the subject. Without any order of ranking, these are: 1. Native hardwood should be harvested from hardwood plantations ...