Agriculture

Entries are open for the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Giant Pumpkin Competition, with anyone able to get seeds delivered to them for free. The competition offers more than $3,400 in prize money, with a new bonus $1,000 for the heaviest pumpkin over a whopping 500 kilograms.

Ben Evans settled on his 2,600-acre Mellool farm just two months ago ... His entire property, bar six acres, is underwater ... Daniel Monk, has never seen floodwater inundate the area as widely or as quickly ... Marcus and his wife, Bree, have 90 per cent of their 4,000ha farm inundated at Mallan ... “I have never seen so much water ever,” said Ken Spence.

Both researchers I referenced show regular low intensity burning, as practised by Aboriginal people across the landscape, has been lost and Dr Fletcher believes the loss of cool, mosaic burning since European settlement has left us, as a nation, dangerously fire prone. Philip Zylstra seems to have missed this critical point.

In his 24 October response on this issue, Zylstra states that in their study seven times more area of recently burnt forest was burnt than long unburnt forest. That is not in dispute. But was this because there were seven times the number of ignitions in these areas to start with because of chance or differences in area or because of some flammability factor? We simply do not know because this basic statistical requirement was not considered in the study.   Is the conclusion biased, by how much, and in what direction? Who knows?

I have recently re-read Think Trees, Grow Trees, a 1985 publication from the Institute of Foresters of Australia. This excellent little book was the brainchild of, and was edited by Dr Wilf Crane, one of my contemporaries at the Australian Forestry School, a notable forest scientist and famous and eccentric character ... To me, the most important part of the book (in terms of contemporary relevance) is the chapter called Living with Fire. It is written by Phil Cheney.

John O'Donnell. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service has recently prepared three useful fact sheets in regards to reducing wildfire risks, hazardous fuels and improving forest resilience ... These documents are valuable reading for those involved in land and fire management in Australia.

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party leader, Robert Borsak, warned Coles  supermarket group that their request for farmers to "cut costs" rather than increase prices would propel NSW  into a food security crisis ... "Telling farmers to "cut costs" is beyond condescending and risks farmers dropping out of the market altogether, which puts our food security at risk.  

The Scenic Rim's reputation as a leading destination for food tourism was reaffirmed at the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards on the Gold Coast. Winning a silver award for Excellence in Food Tourism, the region has added to this year's accolades after being named as Best in Travel 2022 by the Lonely Planet guide and the Scenic Rim's Tamborine Mountain taking the title of Top Tourism Town in Queensland in June.  

124th Eudunda Show, 13 November 2022

Alexandra Pastoral & Agricultural Association Inc. After being in a holding pattern for the last two years, the Alexandra Show is finally back and ready...

Omeo & District Agricultural & Pastoral Society Inc. Victoria’s Highest Show Since 1885 is back for 2022. It kicks off with Quick Shears Friday evening 11th...

Dungog Agricultural & Horticultural Society Dungog Show is on this year on Friday 11th November and Saturday 12th November. After having two years off due...

A proud Gamilaroi man who recently started his own native grains business is partnering with a research team from the University of Sydney to share knowledge, revitalise country and help grow the emerging native grains industry. Les Knox, who owns and operates Garaah Gundal, will this summer lead a harvest collaboration with local farmers as part of a project to modernise Indigenous native grain processing and produce flour from the region’s traditional grain varieties.

Australian engineers from global company RingIR will visit the US Department of Agriculture in Boston next month, to test whether their revolutionary technology can be used to ‘sniff out’ pests that attach themselves to containers or other cargo (known as hitchhiker pests).

Farming community Mypolonga has been named the 2022 Ag Town of the Year during Friday night’s Regional Showcase event at the UKARIA Cultural Centre at Mount Barker. Located in the heart of the Murraylands, the entrepreneurial community finished ahead of Crystal Brook, Kapunda, Orroroo and Waikerie to take the prized title of South Australia’s premier agricultural community.

The Opposition has slammed the McGowan Labor Government’s failure to see flow-on effects of banning native forestry on industries which rely on timber to provide goods and services. Opposition Leader Mia Davies said more than a year had passed since the announcement to end the native forestry industry yet many businesses still don’t have clarity on what their futures hold.

The Tasmanian horse community has been given a one-month reprieve after being cut off from the mainland following a decision by the operators of the only sea link to the island state, the Spirit of Tasmania, to ban livestock transport ... The decision by TT-Line to ban livestock on the Spirit of Tasmania threw the horse community into chaos and led to some horses missing racing in Melbourne on Cup Day.

When Karen Parrish decided to run an online youngstock show, judged on photos by the noted British judge Gill Wright, the show got entries not only from each Australian state, but from Germany, the US, France, UK and New Zealand. Almost every Mountain and Moorland breed was represented in pure and part-breds, up to three years of age.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Victoria has found state-owned logger VicForests has logged illegally, and ruled for the first time that VicForests must protect threatened Gliders. Environment East Gippsland and Kinglake Friends of the Forest brought the case in 2021, to protect endangered Gliders in East Gippsland and the Central Highlands ... The groups are calling for the state Labor Government to end logging now, not in 8 years’ time.

Timber processors at Heyfield and Yarram may lose more wood supply after the state government announced a halving of the native timber supplied by VicForests by 2024 under the Victorian Forestry Plan ... The chief executive of the Victorian Forest Products Association, Deb Kerr, said the government's actions were totally undermining any industry confidence that it would be able to guarantee supply timber until 2030, as promised.

A total of 19 species of flora and fauna have been recommended for interim protection relating to forestry operations, according to the Threatened Species and Communities Risk Assessment report. The next step will be to prepare action statements for each species based on the management needed to conserve them all.