Business

Mildura Rural City Councillor for Recreation and Events Mark Eckel has highlighted the success of the Penrite Hattah Desert Race as the iconic event prepares to mark its 25th  anniversary this weekend ... Cr Eckel said the event was now one of the most popular and sought-after off-road events in the country, evidenced by the fact the more than 800 available race entries are now snapped up in just seconds once they open.

Barossa Mayor Bim Lange is thrilled about the return of the 2024 Santos Tour Down Under, saying the Barossa will welcome not one Stage, but two ... “This is another great opportunity to put the Barossa on the world stage, and we couldn’t be happier Race Director Stuart O’Grady has yet again recognised our capacity for hosting this major international event”: Barossa Mayor Bim Lange.

The new WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws will have far reaching consequences to the farming community, many of which are only just coming to light as the WA Department of Heritage workshops the changes across the State. This is how WAFarmers responded to one of the workshops in the central Wheatbelt.        

The independent panel appointed to consult with stakeholders on the phase out of live sheep exports by sea will complete its public consultations this week. The panel was appointed by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt to provide advice on how and when the Australian Government can give effect to a phase out of live sheep exports by sea.

The Queensland budget will supercharge CopperString 2032 through a $1 billion down payment from coal royalties, $594 million of which is committed to start construction over the coming financial year ... The announcement was made at the official opening of Vecco Group’s $26 million Townsville Vanadium Battery Manufacturing Facility, which received support through the Queensland Jobs Fund.

Food and Fibre Great South Coast released a comprehensive suite of interactive classroom resources designed to build school students’ exposure to Victoria’s diverse food and fibre sector. Drawing on a wide-range of resources from leading industry and education bodies, these free classroom resources have been selected and aligned with key areas of the Australian curriculum for teacher ease and direct student relevance.

Of the two budding NT government art galleries, one is making news: The one in Darwin, because construction is under way. At the opposite end of the Territory, and of government attention, there is no news about the Alice Springs “national” Aboriginal gallery because its senior director, Tracy Puklowski, is not able, not willing, not permitted, not whatever to answer media questions.

The Maldon in Winter festival kicks off tonight (Friday 23 June) with the long-awaited for Kangaroo Art Trail coming to life! Twenty-four life-sized kangaroos lovingly decorated by an array of local artists and community groups are creatively displayed in shop windows along Main & High Streets in Maldon throughout the festival.

Have you seen the new hand crafted signs for the Maldon Vintage Machinery & Museum? The eye-catching artistry was meticulously created by Signwriter and Graphic Designer Kim Johnson of Signsation, based in Hepburn Springs and each sign depicts one of the vintage machines on display at the museum.

One of the standout stalls at the recent High School Market Day would have to be the leather goods made by one of the students under the business name Rennie’s Leather Works. Thomas Hicks has been creating the leather goods now for almost two years and spends about 10 hours a week creating wallets, purses and belts that not only get sold at High School events, but also has started doing a stall at the fortnightly local Community Lawn Sale.

National online removalist booking platform Muval, which has the most up-to-date internal migration figures showing where Australians are moving right now, has crunched the May numbers to show the impact a year on from the start of interest rate rises.

The Grong Grong School of Arts hosted a successful fire circle session at the Royal Hotel over the weekend ... "We ended up with 17 musicians, many of whom didn’t know each other, playing at the pub all day… they came from Griffith all the way to the border and just drove up for the day, it was great": Gemma Purcell.

A local home business that was born out of the pandemic has been nominated for an Australian Rural Business Award. The extended lockdowns were the catalyst for Shelley Neale to create her business, The Khancoban Kitchen, which specialises in gourmet pantry products.

Industry and Hort Innovation are working together to prime the Australian almond sector for growth amid a 118 per cent rise in overseas demand over the past decade. From exporting 52,795 tonnes in 2013 to 115,049 tonnes in 2022, the almond industry is gearing up for further expansion. Delivered through Hort Innovation and led by the Almond Board of Australia, the $7M program aims to increase almond exports by at least 50,000 tonnes over the next three years and push export sales beyond $1 billion.

Hundreds of mountain biking enthusiasts and their families gathered in Rockhampton for the recent Rocky Trail Academy Schools Competition and  the Fox Superflow ® Gravity Enduro race, two of the fastest growing mountain bike racing formats held in Rockhampton during winter ... “Mountain biking tourism is considered one of the fastest growing recreational activities globally, with AusCycle reporting a $136.9 million direct economic impact to Australia, per annum": Parks, Sport and Public Spaces Councillor Cherie Rutherford.

Prominent Australian beekeeping business, Coutts Crossing based HoneyBee Hives has been announced as a finalist in an impressive six categories of the Australian Rural Business Awards, and they are calling for help to win the highly regarded ‘People’s Choice’ award ... Mrs McQueen- Richardson said they were exhilarated when they received the news that they were a finalist in all six nominated categories.

NSW Farmers has welcomed a Parliamentary Inquiry into undergrounding powerlines, calling it a win for common sense and community safety. Multiple renewable energy projects proposed or under construction in regional areas would require new power lines to connect them to the grid, Energy Transition Working Group chair Reg Kidd said, but too often landholders were being ignored by the big developers.

Ecology, community and renewable timber were on the agenda last week as the NSW Minister for Agriculture, The Hon. Tara Moriarty MLC spent time in Bagawa State Forest near Coffs Harbour.  Minister Moriarty said the field visit provided a deeper understanding of how State forests are managed to balance multiple uses and objectives.  

Patrick Goldsmith. Just four months after focusing its efforts entirely on Yorke Peninsula for Country Cabinet, the state government has left the region without much to celebrate ... "It makes for two budgets in a row where we’ve seen little investment in our area. In the glossy budget overview there was precious little for a number of regions and we suffered the absolute embarrassment of not even being listed": Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis.

More than 50 board members, staff, partners, stakeholders, and community members attended the North Central LLEN Annual General Meeting and stakeholder event at the Rex Theatre in Charlton last week. Hosted by CEO Jane Hosking and fellow staff member Molly Meadows, the evening featured a range of elements including the AGM itself and a facilitated panel of young people about why they chose agriculture as a career pathway.