Agriculture

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Lockyer Valley Regional Council is urging landholders to remain vigilant for Fireweed. Lockyer Valley Environment Portfolio Councillor Michael Hagan said the invasive weed has the potential to severely impact agriculture in the region if it's not removed from pastures.

Open winners: Ken Atherton – Ramulam Punch, Open Utility; Nigel Armstrong – Tumutvalley Roy, Open Yard.

The domestic softwood timber industry in NSW has received a significant boost with the NSW Government directing Forestry Corporation to divert selected softwood log exports impacted by the China trade embargo, to domestic markets. Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry John Barilaro said this will see at least an additional 270,000 tonnes of timber enter the domestic supply chain over the next three years.

Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall will lead a statewide forum bringing together key farming, research and industry players to help farmers manage a spring surge in mouse numbers across NSW.

Australia's agricultural production is anticipated to reach a record gross value of $73.0 billion in 2021-22, breaking the $70 billion mark for the first time in history ... Herron Todd White’s latest Month in Review report further highlighted the gains being made across Australian agribusiness and the regions which are leading the industry in innovation.

Australian cattle property investment firm Packhorse Pastoral Company has opened its second fundraising as part of plans to buy $1.5 billion worth of rural agricultural land and build mass-scale land regeneration with carbon upside.

According to the latest ANZ Agri InFocus report, rural land value growth has been outperforming national residential property value growth by a 3% average for the last five years. While the ABS has found that rural land has increased in value by more than 30% in the three years to June 2020.

“For over a century, CSIRO has been working with farmers and governments to improve life on this great land – but today we’re bringing all of our newest science and technology, from Artificial Intelligence to genetics and smart materials, to bear on overcoming our oldest national challenge – drought,” CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said.

Mice have been a reoccurring theme for Darcy Hare in this year’s canola crop. “This will be our fifth treatment, four from the ground and a fifth from the air,” said Mr Hare. The Hare family have 290 hectares of canola planted and the mice have damaged 60% of their crops reducing yield by an estimated 15-25%.

Serena Kirby. The WA College of Agriculture Denmark showcased a wide range of activities this month at its annual open day ... From machinery maintenance and aquaculture to forestry and calf rearing, students and staff demonstrated the farm-based programs run by the school.

For the first time in more than 20 years, farmers are having to rethink their strategy for managing flystrike. Recently documented chemical resistance, coupled with wet and warm conditions this spring, means there is the threat of a big flystrike season ahead.

Australian horticulture growers are being urged to contribute to the creation of a high-tech mapping tool to improve biosecurity preparedness and natural disaster response efforts. The National Protected Cropping Map, an initiative being delivered through Hort Innovation and led by the University of New England’s Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre, will capture the location of commercial, polytunnels, shadehouses, glasshouses and permanent nets in every State and Territory of Australia.  

Australian researchers have discovered a set of unique and potentially durable resistance genes from exotic barley lines and landraces that breeders can use to develop crops with more stable resistance to powdery mildew.

A nationwide operation has been launched aiming to bolster the supply of local workers to help deliver this year’s bumper grains harvest and relieve pressure on farming communities. Retired and former ADF servicemen and women are being motivated and mobilised under Operation Grain Harvest Assist, to answer the call-up and work on grain farms stationed throughout Australia.

A second consecutive year of good seasonal conditions and high commodity prices is helping shield Australia’s farm sector from the broader economic uncertainty of COVID-19, with farmer sentiment surging in recent months, according to the latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey. The survey reveals Australian farm sector confidence is at one of its highest levels in the survey’s history due to ongoing positive seasonal conditions and exceptionally-high commodity prices, with more than 90 per cent of Australian farmers expecting the current conditions to continue or improve further over the coming 12 months.

Precautionary fishing restrictions in waters immediately adjacent to Port Pirie have been extended for a further 12 months ... Put in place in September 2020 after the release of a scientific study into heavy metals in sediment in the area, the restrictions have been extended for another year while SA Health complete an in-depth analysis of sample results and consider the public health implications.

The agricultural sector is looking at another record-breaking year, with the gross value of production (GVP) forecast to reach $73 billion in 2021-22. ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville said if the forecast in the  Agricultural Commodities: September Quarter  report proves to be accurate, then it will be the first time the agriculture sector has been valued at over $70 billion."