Farming

Victorian citizen scientists are helping to keep our waterways clean and healthy with an innovative new program using insects to stop nutrient run-off from farms ... The breeding program was established 12 months ago and includes a network of 16 dung beetle ‘nurseries’ on Landcare and farming properties in the Macedon Ranges, Nillumbik Shire, Western Port and the Mornington Peninsula.

An Australian university has discovered four in five primary school students have no idea how modern milk is produced. The survey of more than 5000 Australian primary and secondary students found many had outdated ideas about where food came from, with the majority thinking cows were still milked by hand.

Growers and graziers are angry their livelihoods could be placed at risk after the state government said it was reviewing the future of the Cape York Biosecurity Centre. “They should be looking at opening it 24 hours, not shutting it down”: Merluna Station’s Cameron MacLean ... “It’s absolute insanity if they close it. It would be madness”: Warren Entsch, Member for Leichhardt.

‘The NSW Coalition and the Shooters Fishers Farmers Party have condemned the Darling/Baaka to longer periods of dry riverbed with stagnant slimy pools. This decline in river health started when floodplain harvesting exploded upstream during the 1990’s. The NSW Government has rewarded decades of unsustainable and unregulated water use with new licences while conducting no assessment of the downstream impacts on Darling/Baaka communities, native fish populations, groundwater recharge and important wetland areas’: Brian Stevens, spokesperson for Inland Rivers Network.

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.  

Quorn, situated in the beautiful Flinders Ranges, will hold its annual show on Sunday 25th September from 9.00 pm until 4.00 pm. The population is approximately 1200 people, and our show is the most northern in South Australia.

Murray Bridge Agricultural & Horticultural Show Society Inc.

Agricultural Pastoral & Show Society of Lockhart Inc. The Lockhart community is excited to once again be holding its annual show on Sunday 25th September...

Kristin Murdock. Biosecurity is a buzzword in the agricultural industry, now more than ever with the recent threat of foot and mouth disease and an infestation of varroa mite affecting bees in New South Wales. Vineyards are just as vulnerable to risks and with that in mind, Willo Brown from Oparina Wines in Padthaway has put his university IT skills to good use creating an app called myVineyard.

Chris Oldfield. Red biosecurity signage will soon mushroom on many farm entrances across the SE, along with wash down facilities for visitors – vets, various contractors, shearers, trucks and stock agents. Even friends and relatives visiting farming families will be required to fill out details about where they have been, and where they will go next.

It’s been nearly two years since fall armyworm was first detected in Australia, and in that time the pest has made its presence felt. With the ability to travel vast distances of up to 100 kilometres overnight, and an appetite for summer crops, the fall armyworm can devour large quantities of crops – including ginger – in a matter of days. 

Farmers and regional communities are bracing for yet another soaking with the Bureau of Meteorology confirming another summer of La Nina ... “People are trying to rebuild and get back on top of things, but another huge rain would just be devastating for us”: Northern Rivers farmer Neil Baker.

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.

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.

Some older farmers will remember the Australian superphosphate bounty of $12/tonne that was on offer between 1964 to 1974. Some might have even been at this Perth rally when farmers roughed up Gough Whitlam after he said he was pulling the plug on the bounty ... more hard policy decisions should have been made to cut tariffs and industry support right across Australia to put an end to the endless drip of governments ...

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.

In the summer, Ukrainian farmers adapted to work in wartime. However, Ukrainians will have to forget about fruits and vegetables in winter ... With the onset of winter, many Ukrainians will stop buying vegetables. Farmers won't be able to grow it. The reason is the lack of gas or the high cost of gas.

Yanco Agricultural High School celebrated its centenary and family day at the college grounds last weekend ... Our speciality in developing students with a focus on agriculture, with students having the opportunity to work as an integral part of the school's sheep, cattle and show stock teams, as well as our equine program, is what makes us most proud": Principal Marni Milne.

It’s show time in Northampton, with local markets, food trucks, carnival rides and live entertainment all day!