Agriculture

We have many events and competitions including horse, sheep, dog, fleece, sheaf toss, cooking, horticulture, art, craft, photography etc.

Back in May, NSW’s Natural Resources Commission and Department of Primary Industries, as well as three universities, quietly published a report about forest monitoring. It states that north coast koala populations have been stable for the last five years, despite 30 per cent of koala habitat being burnt by the disastrous Black Summer megafires ... NSW bureaucrats obviously know that the koala population wasn’t adversely affected by Black Summer. So, one wonders why they’re not shouting the good news from the rooftops.

Log cabins and synthetic trees are part of a successful trial of fish-attracting structures in Queensland which could be just the boon freshwater fishers have been angling for ... the dam stretches over 500 hectares and the hunting ground was too spread out, the fish too hard to find.

We are having an entertainment day to promote our district and local community.  

Picton District AH&I Society

This year we are excited to reveal our recently completed new pavilion ... The new pavilion will enable us to create one large display including art, craft, needlework, cooking, horticulture, floral art, fruit/vegetables, farm produce, school work, Lego creations, wool and photography.

Years of drought in northern New South Wales led Gunnedah region’s Sam Conway to establish an innovative ‘co-farming’ business model to reduce production risk for small to mid-sized broadacre farmers ... The Co-Farm model revolves around small to mid-sized “passive” landholders contributing their land into a joint venture, where operating expenses and profits are shared on a percentage basis.

The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) has acknowledged the recent tabling in the Australian Senate of animal welfare incident reports occurring at export abattoirs in 2020 and 2021. Chair of the ALRTA National Driver and Animal Welfare Committee, Graeme Hoare, said that the association welcomes the very high compliance rate but will continue working to eliminate welfare incidents entirely.

Two South-East Queensland councils are joining forces in their fight against Fireweed, as the invasive pest carpets their regions. Adding to the regular treatments to the councils’ roads and reserves, Somerset Regional Council and Lockyer Valley Regional Council are banding together, actively encouraging landholders to identify and treat Fireweed on their property to reduce its spread.

A mural depicting the history of fishing on the Fraser Coast has been painted on the side wall of the Urangan Fisheries cold store which faces Fishermans Park ... “It links the Butchulla and European history of fishing in the region,” Councillor Zane O’Keefe said ... Watch the video.

After the release of OBE Organic's Sustainability Report 2022 earlier this year, Australian Rural & Regional News found out a little more about what's involved in farming organic beef in the vast Channel Country and how it came to be Australia's oldest organic beef company from OBE Organic's Managing Director, Dalene Wray.

Kendall Jennings. Residents around the district supported the Kerang Orchid Show blooming in the Kerang Basketball Stadium over the weekend, hosted by the Mid-Murray Orchid Club. After a three-year hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions, judges from Melbourne travelled to Kerang to award displays designed by local growers.

If you are wondering why there is a labour shortage across the Western Australia wheatbelt then check out some of the jobs on offer across the state and what they are paying ... I’m going to try to make the case that we need to lift what we pay but also ensure we offer a safe interesting experience so we can grow the pool of working holiday markets that will consider working on grains farms.

After a 2 year break due to COVID-19, the countdown is on to Saturday October 1st for the 126th Nathalia Show! This year’s special theme is ‘The wonderful world of LEGO and Celebrating 75 years of the Harry Ferguson tractor’.

Victorian citizen scientists are helping to keep our waterways clean and healthy with an innovative new program using insects to stop nutrient run-off from farms ... The breeding program was established 12 months ago and includes a network of 16 dung beetle ‘nurseries’ on Landcare and farming properties in the Macedon Ranges, Nillumbik Shire, Western Port and the Mornington  Peninsula.

An Australian university has discovered four in five primary school students have no idea how modern milk is produced. The survey of more than 5000 Australian primary and secondary students found many had outdated ideas about where food came from, with the majority thinking cows were still milked by hand.

Growers and graziers are angry their livelihoods could be placed at risk after the state government said it was reviewing the future of the Cape York Biosecurity Centre. “They should be looking at opening it 24 hours, not shutting it down”: Merluna Station’s Cameron MacLean ... “It’s absolute insanity if they close it. It would be madness”: Warren Entsch, Member for Leichhardt.

State-wide surveillance will be strengthened to ensure NSW beekeepers have greater flexibility to continue their operations, through a new Varroa Mite Emergency Order ... Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders said changes to the Emergency Order will increase the surveillance registered beekeepers are required to conduct each year.

New fishery management arrangements for Spanish mackerel will be introduced from October this year, helping to restore depleted stocks and protect good jobs in the fishing industry for generations to come. The changes will mean two three-week closed seasons in waters off the state’s north starting in October 2022, and two three-week closed seasons in southern waters starting in February 2023.

Plan Bee, Australia’s national honey bee genetic improvement program has had its hives at Tocal Agricultural College euthanised as part of the all-of-industry response to the 2022 varroa mite incursion. Prior to the hive euthanasia, selected highest value queen bees were removed securely and re-homed to ensure these genetics are banked for future breeding and research.