Agriculture

Mark Allison, Chair of Agribusiness Australia, analyses the state of play for Russian-Australian trade and what the Ukrainian conflict may mean for key global commodities.

Kendall Jennings. The Wakool Show once again entertained locals on Saturday, March 12, an iconic rural agricultural show that has continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting community spirit in an area that has suffered from drought and water restrictions.

The 109th Wallamba District Show is coming up this Saturday at the Nabiac Showgrounds.

Cattle farmers like Rachel Bell at Coraki need help. Having just experienced their worst flood ever, they need to rebuild and the flood recovery grants are supposed to make that rebuilding easier. Unfortunately, Rachel has found herself in the position where she doesn’t qualify for the flood recovery grants because she doesn’t fit the eligibility criteria for a farmer or as a small business owner.

Phil Mulvey, Carbon Count CEO, expands further on the need for strong policy frameworks, on regenerative farming practices, carbon sequestration, profitability and other issues arising from the whitepaper, “Change at our feet – Australian agriculture’s role and responsibility in mitigating climate change”.

Emma Pritchard. A new variety of soybean developed in the Clarence Valley will significantly boost productivity and profitability for growers across the state ... the new variety called Gwydir is an early maturing plant which provides greater crop security and is well suited to a variety of climates ... Gwydir is also the first variety in NSW which is resistant to soybean leaf rust.

“Increasing the capacity of the existing channel escapes will mean environmental water can fill wetlands and creeks that would otherwise only get wet during large over bank flows ... We put an end to buybacks because of the damage they have done to regions like this – stretching beyond the individual farmgate and impacting on the efficiency or whole irrigation networks”: Keith Pitt, Minister for Resources and Water.

The author has set himself an enormous task to survey in depth the history of the Surrey Hills district of north-west Tasmania. Fires, Farms and Forests represents the culmination of much detailed and careful research, combined with the author’s extensive personal experience as a forester, and, in particular, his role managing the native grasslands and buttongrass moorlands on Surrey Hills. All this enables the author to weave a story which encompasses both general history as well as specialist insights into the management of land and forests.

A new whitepaper has been released which seeks to identify the challenges that stand between Australia and netzero2050, and suggests ways the Australian agriculture industry can take a leading role in reaching global targets.

“Book 7 focuses on the impact, expression, diagnosis and management of water repellence in agricultural soil, supported by evidence-based case studies and farmer experiences”: SoilsWest co-director and Murdoch University Associate Professor Frances Hoyle.

The state’s peak farming body is calling on the state government to clearly set out rules around productivity of agricultural land. NSW Farmers President James Jackson said increasing urban sprawl and new developments were eating away at the state’s farming land, which will ultimately reduce the amount of food we can grow.

Tomingley Picnic Race Club Photos courtesy Tomingley Picnic Race Club

The 108th Cohuna Show, to be held on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th March 2022, will feature the opening of the new show pavilion on the Friday. The new pavilion was made possible by means of a $475,000 federal government grant.

Goomeri and District Show Society

The Yass Show will be held on 19 March 2022.   It will follow the one day more traditional agricultural show format we used to hold the show in March 2021.

By all reports, the Tumut Show on 4 and 5 March went very well with the Friday night show being a great success.

Farmgate milk prices have increased significantly across the world’s major dairy export regions and further “upside” in milk prices remains, Rabobank says in its latest Rabobank Global Dairy Quarterly report. The report says that even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, global dairy commodity prices were “soaring” due to a global supply shortfall.

Forestry Australia considers that active management, including timber production, is vital to the sustainability of native forests and provides many benefits to Australian society. Forestry Australia advocates for ongoing research on timber harvesting in native forests to support this capability in Australia.

In summer 2007, I planned and supervised the establishment of a research thinning trial in regrowth jarrah (E.marginata) forest about 15 km east of the Western Australian town of Jarrahdale ... The trial consisted of eight plots, each one hectare in size, thinned to various densities of trees ... Some six months after thinning, in November 2007, the whole area was treated with a prescribed burn ...

Chris Oldfield. Bouncing into life across 45 acres of lush grass, the 42nd SE Field Days at Lucindale will boast at least 450 exhibitors this year, on March 18 and 19.

Chris Oldfield. More than 57 years ago, Jeff and Fay Davey took up dairy farming on their Callendale farm near Lucindale ... In 1978, they joined a group of young farming families all thirsty for information and wanting to see some of the latest machinery ... “We built the site as a club. Then came the infrastructure, and it was all volunteers again.”