Farming

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has revealed its State Election Scorecard rating the promises made by the major parties ahead of this weekend’s election. The VFF’s Election Scorecard scores the promises made by Labor and the Coalition according to the commitments that the VFF sought as part of its ‘Fair Go for Regional Vic’ campaign.

After Katy Brown notched up her fourth broken bone at the tender age of 10, her mum decided that if she couldn’t buy her daughter a safe pony she had better breed one ... it was the choice of the Highland that set in motion an association that would become a life’s work for the young animal lover – saving livestock breeds facing extinction.

Grain Producers Australia is calling on federal political leaders to deliver urgent solutions to fix infrastructure damage that’s having devastating impacts on farm viability and community safety ... The severe and untimely weather is also having a major impact on local road networks, exacerbating an already strained grains supply chain – not only on the east coast of Australia.

Agriculture in NSW is contributing more to the economy than ever before despite this year’s devastating weather events, with the total value of the industry rising by more than $2 billion last year to a record $23.1 billion ... “Livestock industries also achieved a record value of $7.9 billion due to a recovery in sheep meat and wool production and higher lamb, beef and wool prices": Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders.

“La Nina weather patterns, global unrest, freight congestion and the pandemic has seen significant disruptions for many industries including agriculture. The Tasmanian Agri-Food ScoreCard 2020-21 confirms Tasmanian agriculture’s continued growth even in the face of unsettled production, market and climatic conditions": Ian Sauer TFGA President.

A two-part ABARES Insights series on Australian agriculture draws attention to how changes in the sector over past decades have led to its current success and what will shape its future performance. ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville said farmers have made the most of exceptional growing seasons and high global prices to achieve unprecedented industry production and export values over the last three years.

Flinders Shire Council in North Queensland has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Frontier Impact Group to investigate a project to harvest and convert woody weeds into renewable fuel and other valuable byproducts. Flinders Shire CEO, Mr Hari Boppudi said he was thrilled that Flinders Shire Council had signed the MOU to conduct a feasibility study on such an innovative project because landholders across the region had struggled with millions of hectares of good grazing land infested with woody weeds, such as Chinee Apple, Prickly Acacia, and Leucaena.

Farmers in Australia are watching the New Zealand Government with growing horror as they move from the announced 10 per cent cut in methane emissions to actual regulatory rules mandating these cuts take place, starting 2025. The climate change game was great fun while everyone played with monopoly money and they could afford to outbid each other with their virtue, but now that that we are moving to playing with real money and going from targets to taxes, it is clear the virtue signalling has ended and the targeting of who pays has begun.

Australia is set to pioneer a new era of sustainable sugar exports when the first-ever shipment of fully traceable, sustainably produced raw sugar is loaded for export at the Port of Townsville this week. In a world first, the sugar, produced from cane grown by Smartcane BMP accredited growers, will be traceable through the supply chain to the end user in South Korea.

They’re the creepy crawlies with a voracious appetite, so when it comes to food waste, black soldier fly larvae are nature’s number one composters. Now, these wriggly grubs are helping South Australia’s food bowl stay clean and green as part of a sustainable food initiative from Mobius Farms.

Norco Primex has bounced back after local natural disasters with a near-capacity event. More than 10,000 people attended the final day of Norco Primex 2022 on Saturday ... “We chose to go ahead late this year to ensure Norco Primex 2022 would deliver for North Coast communities": director Bruce Wright.

Sam’s memoir tells the story of his journey from farmhand to farmer. Along the way, it also explores the changing nature of farming, the complications of farm succession, and less traditional approaches to agriculture ... I had tears well up at some points, and laughed out loud at others.

Australian agricultural commodity prices have posted a slight uptick in the last two months with NAB’s Rural Commodities Index* rising 1.1% in October following a 1% increase in September. Released on 15 November 2022, NAB’s November Rural Commodities Wrap reports much of the increase has been driven by higher wheat and cattle prices offsetting falls in cotton, fruit and vegetables.

158th Edenhope Show! 19 November 2022

The NSW Government will not proceed with the Environmental Protection and Assessment Amendment (Private Native Forestry) Bill. While this Bill upholds all existing protections for the environment, we will continue to have further conversations with local councils to progress legislation that unites communities and industry.

A team led by University of South Australia researchers has pioneered a new soil remediation technique that is significantly faster, simpler, safer, and more cost-effective than currently available method … a new remediation technique that uses a super-efficient solar evaporation surface to draw water from the soil through a sponge-like filter that traps contaminants, mimicking the process of transpiration that occurs in natural plants, but at a greatly accelerated rate.

An excited crowd of over 600 people attended the recent Coonalpyn & District A & H Show on October 15th. Even though there were a few light showers in the morning, everyone was keen to see what the day had to offer. Coonalpyn always welcomes patrons from far and wide, and tripled its population for the day!

Daryl Wiltshire from Undera reports that while the floodwaters are receding, the community is waiting and hoping that the rain that is forecast will not affect the region too much. Undera people are "hoping for a show of resolve from the authorities who control levees to future flood proof the farming area."