International

The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals today said the offshoring of Australia’s food processing capability must be reversed ... “The last three decades have seen more and more of our food processing offshored and a steady decline in Australian owned agricultural supply chains,” said BCCM CEO Melina Morrison.

As she prepares to head overseas to represent her country as the newly crowned 2023 Rodeo Queen of Australia, Grafton resident Jessica Hicks, reveals it all still feels like a dream ... Ms Hicks will travel to Canada and the USA next month ... representing Australia alongside other rodeo queens from around the world at the Calgary Stampede and then following up events in Dallas, Texas over a fiveweek period.

The independent, global Gender Representation in the Meat Industry 2023 report draws on international data from more than 50 major meat organisations ... Australia's OBE Organic - whose MD Dalene Wray is herself a notable woman in the meat business - featured as a case study in the report ... ARR.News asked some questions about women in the meat business of Dalene and Laura Ryan, Founder and Global Chair of Meat Business Women.

The NFF Horticulture Council has rung the alarm bells loud and clear that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme is now heading toward calamity ... Horticulture Council spokesperson Rachel Chambers said it was increasingly clear relevant ministers aren’t working together to ensure the scheme meets the long-terms interests of the Pacific and Australian industries it’s meant to serve. 

Singapore-based Nutrition Technologies has launched their new bioactive organic fertiliser, Diptia™, specifically designed and formulated to combat fungal plant diseases, and protect soil from infection. Diptia™ is a patent pending Nutrition Technologies product derived from Black Soldier Fly frass ... ARR.News asked Rezuwan Zakaria, Nutrition Technologies R&D Manager, some further questions about the product, Diptia™ and the company itself.

A fresh study on the environmental impacts of lab-grown meat has led an internationally recognised expert on the future of cell-based protein, Professor Paul Wood, AO, to confirm the economics of producing lab-grown meat at scale “just won’t work” and will be less sustainable than traditional red meat production systems. The new study from the University of California, Davis, argues the global warming potential of cell-based meat production could be up to 25 times greater than the average for retail beef.

When we look at the Australian teams competing for us at the Olympics and world championships, older riders feature prominently. Fair enough, because with age comes experience, but times are changing and many other country’s Olympic teams are far younger than ours ... in all Olympic disciplines, there is beginning to be a changing of the guard.

Lockhart's Jackson Strong became the most dominant rider in Moto X Best Trick History after winning at the X Games at Chiba, Japan, last month ... "Everyone’s been riding amazing tonight. I’m glad I was able to get the trick I’ve been practising...": Jackson Strong.

The nation is on track to plant an impressive 23.48 million hectare winter crop this year – up slightly on last year’s crop area – Rabobank says in its newly-released 2023/24 Australian Winter Crop Outlook ... overall harvest totals are forecast to be lower than last season, with expectations of drier growing conditions due to the likely transition to an El Nino climate cycle, the specialist agribusiness bank says.

So far in May, the S&P GSCI Agriculture Index has declined a modest 0.6% amid the renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) and ample grain and oilseed supplies ... Losses across most G&O markets (-2.6% on average) were largely offset by gains across softs (+2.2%).

Australia has handed over 500,000 doses of lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccines to Indonesia as part of the Australian Government’s work to fight exotic animal diseases before they reach our shores. The vaccines are part of 1 million doses the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is providing to assist Indonesia to control LSD.

"Australia is the sixth most forested country in the world but is a net importer of timber products. The current approach is not working if we want to continue to provide local timber products to support affordable housing and flow-on benefits to meet society’s needs. We are in effect, exporting our forest management challenges to other nations, when we have high environmental standards and highly skilled professionals and scientists to appropriately manage our resources locally": Dr Michelle Freeman, President of Forestry Australia.

Denmark aims to gain international tourism exposure by luring the Danish women’s soccer team to the town before the FIFA Women’s World Cup in July and August. The FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand with two of three group stage matches in Perth/Boorloo.

A joint Consortium Agreement has been adopted to help progress Moonta Mines’ world heritage bid. The Australian Cornish Mining Sites World Heritage Consortium will enable Copper Coast Council, Regional Council of Goyder (encompassing Burra) and the National Trust of South Australia to work towards their final step in gaining World Heritage Listing.

Australia’s beef sector is set for a return to "more normal" market conditions in the season ahead, after a recent extraordinary period marked by record prices levels and volatility, according to Rabobank’s Australian Beef Seasonal Outlook 2023. But while prices are projected to track in a narrower range – at close to current levels – through the year, this is still "historically high’ and expectations are that beef producer margins will remains strong, the agribusiness banking specialist says.

A small village cafe has had international recognition. A luxury online publication in United Kingdom has released its annual restaurant awards featuring restaurants and cafes from around the world. And Bonalbo’s Powick’s Pantry has won the Best Local Homemade Cafe 2023.

Dubai Chamber office in Sydney a ‘big win,’ says Al Ghurair ... Al Ghurair said that Dubai Chambers aims to encourage more Australian businesses to set up companies in Dubai to boost bilateral trade and foreign investment in the city ... “We will be taking the UAE business community back to Australia where they can also invest and explore what kind of economic activities they can do in Australia.”

A group of the United Kingdom’s most influential business figures were presented insights into South Australia’s growing global investment opportunities at a premier industry event in London recently ... The event highlighted the State’s economic priorities to some of the UK’s most influential business figures, focusing on key initiatives such as renewable energy, food and wine, digital skills, space and defence.

In Ukraine, participants in the flower business are three times heroes. In 2014, the war with Russia began. Then, in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic began. And in 2022, Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine. Over eight years, the business industry has experienced a catastrophic recession three times. Even so, the flower business continues to thrive. The love of Ukrainians for flowers is stronger than any problem.

The Alice Springs Turf Club is hosting Chinese satellite navigation equipment with potential military use and apparently without the knowledge of the Federal Government. This is alleged by a source, formerly linked to the company that supplied it, speaking with the Alice Springs News on the condition of not being named.

Charles Sturt University academics are collaborating on an international project to investigate how racehorses express positive emotions in their interaction with humans. Researchers from Charles Sturt, EITITe Pūkenga in New Zealand and Hartpury University in the United Kingdom have secured funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Equine Welfare Foundation for the three-year study.