Business

The Casino Food Co-op is expanding its operations with a new $5 million retail facility on the Summerland Way that has been approved by Richmond Valley Council. The development application for a building to replace a smaller facility means the co-op can increase its output of meat products for Coles, Woolworths and Aldi.

Regional Australia has a one in 100-year opportunity to set the agenda for what is needed to achieve a brighter and more prosperous future for the bush. This is the call to action in the National Farmers' Federation-led Regionalisation Agenda paper launched today.

The Scenic Rim region is reaping the rewards of Queenslanders exploring their own backyard according to the most recent Tourism Research Australia data. Mayor Greg Christensen said that after a year of international and state border closures, the September 2020 year-end data shows that, while visitor numbers were down in the Scenic Rim, we fared much better than in other parts of South East Queensland.

Leadership is crucial to any business and Colin Savo is proving to be a key member of Rio Tinto's Weipa team. Colin first caught the attention of Rio Tinto in 2017 when he joined the Rio Tinto and Sodexo-partnered Fit For Work program as a mentor.

Last year it was difficult to deal with the bombardment of bad news that came from COVID-19. So, hearing about the great year that the McNaul family’s paddock-to-plate agribusiness, ‘Outback Harvest’, has had was a refreshing change ... Teff is an ancient grain of Ethiopia – which offers a gluten-free, healthy alternative to the plain flours currently out there ...

The impending cut to Jobseeker isn’t only about the hardship those on $40 a day will endure. More than a million dollars a week will be pulled out of our local economy if Jobseeker returns to pre-covid levels.

Forestry Corporation of NSW is recommencing timber harvesting on the South Coast and Eden with additional environmental safeguards and restates our commitment to ecologically sustainable forest management which ensures good environmental outcomes.

Coal miners, farmers, and steel and iron workers hold the majority of the 653,600 jobs which could be destroyed by the adoption of a net zero emissions target in Australia, according to new research released by free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs.

Emergency services, the Central Coast Aero Club and other users will be able to fly more freely now that the NSW Upper House has voted overnight to repeal the Warnervale Airport (Restrictions) Act 1996.

Representatives from Bass Coast Shire Council met with members of VinFast’s management team at the Lang Lang Proving Ground complex recently. VinFast, a Vietnamese car manufacturer, purchased the site from GM Holden last year and will continue to operate the Proving Ground as a vehicle testing and development facility.

Australia’s wheat crop is estimated to have surged by 119.8% to a record 33.34 million tonnes in 2020/21, according to ABARES (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences). ABARES has raised its estimate of national production of winter crops by 7.4% to 55.2 million tonnes in 2020/21.

The Somerset Art Beat Festival is back on the calendar for 2021 and will see a range of arts, music, performance, and creativity celebrated at The Somerset Regional Art Gallery - The Condensery in Toogoolawah.

Today’s decision by the ANZ Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation to slash the rating for pure, fresh Australian fruit and vegetable juices has failed Australian growers. National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) Chief Executive Tony Mahar described the decision to apply lower Health Star Ratings to fresh juices than those given to chemical-laden diet soft-drinks as baffling.

Telecommunications are back online in Lockhart River after the Cape York community suffered a 10-day outage to kick off February ... Mayor Wayne Butcher said the community had a long history of communication issues, mostly in the wet season, when they needed these services the most ...

Nathan Dawes is the new energetic publican at the Top Pub in Kyogle. Having lived between Coorabell and Sydney for two decades working in the corporate world, he has changed his lifestyle and taken on the Commercial Hotel. He lives upstairs at the pub.

All eyes are on Casino as the next region to become a job precinct. Called the Casino Industries Activation project, the aim is to establish a strong case for businesses to locate to the Richmond Valley and includes cutting red tape to lure manufacturing businesses to the area. Last Wednesday in Townsend near Maclean, Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow, council's general manager Vaughan Macdonald, Casino Food Co-op's Simon Stahl and State MP Chris Gulaptis were at an event where Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced Casino as the location for the next Regional Job Precinct.

Malcolm Prowse. World leading mariculture expert, Dr Brian Von Herzen has just been granted a special talent visa to Australia and has set up his organisation's focus of operations in South East Queensland.

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has partnered with Three Blue Ducks Restaurant Group to showcase Australian red meat producers' world class sustainable production practices and the high-quality product they produce via a new television series set to air nationally this week on Network 10.

A Brisbane building company is setting up a satellite office in Napranum as it looks to win public housing contracts in Cape York. Cowie Group representatives spent two weeks travelling between Napranum and Mapoon to speak with locals as they look to establish long-term contracts.

The 2021 State of the Industry report from a leading industry body.

Explore close to home and be blown away. I am close to the sky. The breeze in the thick canopy that covers the hillsides makes the mountains look like they're moving. The landscape is more ocean than forest – even though I stand 110km from the sea. This is Pinnacle Lookout in the Border Ranges where the peak of Wollumbin-Mt Warning shouts its presence by protruding from the waves of green.

Kyogle's newest vet Simon Wake lives in an idyllic setting. He shares his 80ha property near the Border Ranges with his schoolteacher wife Sally, daughter Lucy, dogs Arthur and Millie, 10 chickens and 18 Speckled Park cattle. Sitting by a huge dam where koalas hide in the trees, Simon's Land Rover is parked under the gums nearby, ready for the next callout.