Business

Plan Bee, Australia’s national honey bee genetic improvement program has had its hives at Tocal Agricultural College euthanised as part of the all-of-industry response to the 2022 varroa mite incursion. Prior to the hive euthanasia, selected highest value queen bees were removed securely and re-homed to ensure these genetics are banked for future breeding and research.  

Health leaders gathered on 16 September for an emergency health summit in Lismore to urge the State and Federal Governments to immediately support healthcare services in the region ... “It’s been more than six months since the floods devastated the region and many healthcare service providers have yet to recover”: AMA President, Professor Steve Robson.

Logging contractors in Central and West Gippsland with virtually no work, a large mill in Orbost running out of log supply, while a new poll shows Victorians overwhelmingly support home grown timber for housing. Welcome to the paradox and crisis facing Victoria’s forest industry; the native forest sector, largely based in Gippsland, is at a virtual standstill due to legal action by environmentalists and decisions by the Supreme Court, as demand for native hardwood because of its beauty, strength and durability remains high.

“The Treasure Trove has always aimed to sell beautiful, clean, affordable clothes and household items that are ‘preloved’ rather than tired and obviously second hand. We must have done something right because apart from our lovely regular locals, we have customers visiting from Perth and are now on the op shop tourist holiday trail": Ann Callen, Gingin Community Op Shop secretary.

Heritage Bank has announced the talented photographers who will share in a massive $50,000 prize pool as part of its 2022 Photographic Awards. The annual Heritage Bank Photographic Awards are now in their 34th year and are one of the most lucrative, and longest running, in the country.

The Maldon Twilight Dinner 2023 is set to be bigger and better than before with the possible addition of a Friday Night Market. The committee is awaiting council approval to include a free Twilight Market to showcase local street traders, food trucks, produce stalls, bands, and swing and belly dancers.

Sarah Brits and Jenn Donovan. Exceptional small businesses are being recognised via the Australian Rural Business Awards, a newly-established awards system created exclusively for rural and regional small businesses. Powered by online bush marketplace Spend With Us, the awards shine a much-needed spotlight on the incredible retailers based in the country.  

Looking at Western Australia’s Wheatbelt of 44 shires between 2001 and 2021, the census has tracked the population fall at a steady rate of just under 1% a year across most of the sub 1,500 person shires in the Wheatbelt ... maybe the current generation of national MPs can come up with a Royalties for Regions II plan.

Denmark Arts’ 40-year run of seasonal markets in Berridge Park is over. Instead, Denmark Arts hopes to collaborate with other market-holders to support them in a new model different to the traditional markets. These have been held over summer and at Easter, and over the decades have built Denmark’s reputation as a market town.

... the 2022 Canola Trail experience - a self-drive immersive experience filled with good food, exciting experiences, and incredible views ... The 2022 Canola Trail flowering season was launched at a media brunch held at the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory on Saturday.

Narrandera's treetop residents will take centre stage at the inaugural Koala Festival at the Narrandera Showground on Saturday ... It is being held to promote Narrandera’s free-ranging koala colony ... the colony is Narrandera’s tourism trump card and one of the shire’s greatest natural assets.

After six months of silence, steam from the sugar mill chimneys punches into a clear sky before quietly dissolving into the blue. It is a welcome and familiar sight for residents of the small riverside village. Finally, cane is being crushed again and its back to work at Sunshine Sugar in Broadwater.

Rising input costs combined with fears of a foot and mouth disease incursion have weighed heavily on optimism in Australia’s farm sector in the latest quarter, according to the Rabobank Rural Confidence survey. Despite extraordinary strength in farm balance sheets and the overall health of the sector following more than two years of high rainfall and exceptional commodity prices, more farmers now believe conditions are set to worsen over the year ahead rather than improve.

Customers in regional NSW have now had access to real-time data on more than one million bus trips across the state. Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway announced the milestone, ahead of the new tracking technology system being rolled out on buses in Orange and Griffith from Monday.

It's marvellous what can happen when a horse-loving wife of a tech-head husband asks him to help her with keeping her equestrian records straight ... The software and app Andy Ide developed is called “HorseRecords” and it is already being used across multiple disciplines in the horse industry.

Phillip Island’s bold vision to become Victoria’s first fully sustainable tourist hot spot in Australia is one step closer, with plans approved for a revolutionary community energy storage system. The Phillip Island Community Energy Storage System (PICESS) will offer greater reliability in electricity supply for the Island, especially during peak holiday periods and could potentially slash power bills, with residents able to use the grid to store their power.

Bendigo’s stunning tulip displays will take centre stage in a new annual Bloom spring program that brings together 60 exciting events, experiences and attractions, including new night time activations in the city centre. A sea of 53,000 tulips will bloom from mid-September at the Conservatory Gardens, Queen Victoria Gardens, Civic Gardens and along Pall Mall.

Global dairy market fundamentals have shifted course in Q3 2022, from extreme tightness to visible but modest loosening. A  potential collision between supply growth and demand is  approaching, with Q4 year-on-year milk supply growth, weak Chinese import demand, and broader demand rationing in developing countries weighing on forecasts, according to the latest international dairy market report from Rabobank.

Kristin Murdock. While foot and mouth disease (FMD) remains active in Indonesia, officials there say they hope to bring the outbreak under control by the end of the year thanks to a rollout of vaccinations. The country’s FMD Task Force spokesperson, Professor Wiku Adisasmito, said there had been more than 450,000 cases of FMD confirmed or suspected across 22 of the country’s 37 provinces.

An elite stable of dedicated Post Entry Quarantine officers is ensuring some of the world’s most valuable shuttle stallions are happy, healthy – and won’t pose a biosecurity risk while on stud duties in Australia. The 55 horses – hailing from Europe, Japan, the USA and Canada, and worth a combined $450 million – have touched down in Australia for the Southern Hemisphere Thoroughbred breeding season.

The bakery, established in 1854, is one of the oldest brick buildings in town, with a rare wood-fired scotch oven. The concerns of some, recently posted on the Maldon Noticeboard Facebook site that the bakery was to be repurposed as a cafe, have now been allayed by new owner Rebecca Barnett. ... Rebecca will be restoring the original wood-fired scotch oven with the help of locals with extensive experience in working with scotch ovens.