Agriculture

Upgrades to a 29-kilometre section of the Narrabri to North Star section of the track are now complete ... Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Barnaby Joyce said in a boost for the local industry, fully loaded trains are now departing from Moree.

More than $3.13 million will be returned to growers in regional Queensland as part of a Sunwater trial related to water delivery services. Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing and Minister for Water Glenn Butcher said the rebates have already begun being provided to irrigators following the first 12 months of a three-year electricity cost pass‐through trial - developed in conjunction with the Queensland Farmers’ Federation.

Did you know Queensland stock routes cover around 72,000 km and 48 local government areas? Drovers are herding cattle along the stock routes passing through the Central Highlands at Yan Yan Road through to Lilyvale Road, Gregory Highway and Capricornia Highway through to Springsure and Rolleston areas. These roads are subject to change depending on conditions and motorists are urged to be patient and vigilant whenever they are driving along a stock route.

The ALRTA has rejected an NTC [National Transport Commission] proposal to reduce maximum weekly work time to 60 hours, increase the minimum daily continuous rest period to 8 hours and prohibit all driving 14 hours after the end of a long rest break ... ALRTA National President Scott McDonald  said that the both the proposal and the consultation timeframe were naïve and unworkable.

Researchers from The University of Western Australia recently completed the final report for the LHI Galapagos shark research project, which has been running since January 2018. This research used acoustic listening stations around LHI waters to track Galapagos sharks fitted with internal acoustic tags to determine their movement patterns, as well as identifying where, when and how frequently these sharks interact with fishing vessels.

Sheryl Lowe. The $2.1m Penola-Coonawarra Rail Trail project is shovel-ready, but the public may not be aware the trail will now pass through the middle of a working agriculture farm via a service road, due to a recent change in the route. Peter and Elke Hocking bought the Glenroy property ‘Churinga Park’ 18 months ago. At the time of purchase, they were unaware of any plans for a change in the use of the road reserve.  

Valais Blacknose sheep, known to be the cutest sheep in the world, have been born for the first time in Australia following Valais Blacknose sheep, known to be the cutest sheep in the world, have been born for the first time in Australia following the successful importation of embryos and semen from the United Kingdom.

With just two days’ notice, community volunteers at the heart of the Koondrook Perricoota co-design welcomed a shiny entourage of politicians, bureaucrats and media. The whistlestop tour was part of a $330 million funding announcement with no less than five state and federal politicians ... The Koondrook Perricoota project has been a white elephant of government spending with the $120 million over-designed project sitting idle.

People proliferated across Australia, which was then a part of Sahul, from about 40 000 years ago when megafauna finally disappeared long before the Last Glacial Maximum. Aboriginal burning initially turned much biomass into charcoal, reducing browse, changing vegetation and causing megafaunal extinctions. It created ecosystems whose health and safety depend on constant human input of mild fire.

Australian wheat growers are on track to benefit from one of the best combinations of price and yield in Australian history, according to the NAB October Rural Commodities Wrap released.

Angus Taylor was quoted in The Australian saying, “no affordable, practical and large-scale way exists to reduce [methane from agriculture] other than by culling herd sizes” ... Researchers found cows belched out 82% less methane after putting a small amount of seaweed in their feed for five months. Recent trials of Tasmanian red seaweed - Asparagopsis - show methane can be reduced by up to 98%.  

Entering the market after almost 30 years, an expansive citrus farm and vineyard in the New South Wales Riverina region is ripe for picking, in the country’s largest citrus-growing and NSW’s largest wine producing region.

Two landholdings in the Mornington Peninsula’s Boneo are anticipated to whip up a competitive sales campaign with all kinds of buyers expected to be drawn to the offerings. The premium landholdings at 410-430 Jetty Road and 107 Grasslands Road when combined span around 84-hectares, making the properties amongst the largest holdings to be listed in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in years.

The Tasmanian Government welcomes the announcement by the Federal Government to help grow and incentivise the plantation estate and support jobs in Tasmania ... unlocking the carbon farming market ‘water rule’ in the South of the State will help encourage private forester participants to fully participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) across the State, including making the market more accessible to small scale landholders.

The Mulloon Institute says the Prime Minister’s plan to include Soil Carbon Sequestration in the 2050 Carbon Neutral roadmap is a critical element to reducing emissions and reducing the impact of global warming. Chairman of the Institute, Gary Nairn AO, says soils hold three times more carbon than the atmosphere so has huge potential, through photosynthesis, to sequester (draw down) carbon.

NSW coastal farmers and landholders can currently store 10 per cent of the rain that falls on their properties, yet they will soon be able to better drought-proof their properties as the NSW Government increases their harvestable right to 30 per cent. Minister for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey said these changes would improve water security for property owners and assist with reducing bushfire risk for coastal towns.

In July 2020, the Government simplified access to carbon funding for forestry projects across five plantation growth regions. The Government is expanding access for four new regions in Tasmania, Gippsland (Victoria), the Green Triangle (Victoria) and Kangaroo Island (South Australia).

Australia’s commercial plantation estate stood at 1.8 million hectares in 2019-20 according to statistics released by ABARES. ABARES Acting Executive Director, Dr Jared Greenville, said the report shows the softwood estate remained relatively stable at about one million hectares. “However, the hardwood estate declined by about 200 thousand hectares compared to the previous estimate for 2014-15," Dr Greenville said.