Land & environment

Australia is on track to harvest a near-record winter grain crop of 61.9 million tonnes, according to Rabobank’s 2022/23 Australian Winter Crop Forecast. But what will be a record for some farmers will be heartbreak for others, due to the impacts of excessive rainfall on grain volume, yield and quality in parts of the country.

Updated flood news from Echuca. As at 25 October 2022, the Murray River at Echuca is up slightly. Those that can enjoyed some sun at the coffee shops and restaurants that are opening in the town.

Rabobank's Marcel van Doremaele said while assessment of damage was still in a very early phase, farmers would be dealing with a range of issues including damage to grain and horticulture crops, as well as pasture and feed. In addition, he said, there would be impacts on summer crop planting programs, disruptions to milking, as well as flooded sheds and damage to other farm infrastructure, machinery and access roads. "Added to this, there will be logistical concerns in relation to harvest and getting livestock to market,” he said.

A good place to start reading Farm is at the back. That may sound counterintuitive but by taking a look at the extensive bibliography you’ll quickly see how intensely researched the book is which adds weight to the arguments and questions it presents. While Farm is a memoir that chronicles the journey of Nicola Harvey and her husband after they leave their city lives to farm cattle in rural New Zealand, it is far more than that.

“With $350 million allocated for our Voluntary Home Buy Back Program, we expect to be able to purchase roughly 500 homes. We’re implementing this process with eight councils: Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay, Gympie, Fraser Coast and Sunshine Coast": Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Steven Miles.

The Commonwealth and Victorian governments have come together to prepare the Centre for National Resilience at Mickleham to provide crisis accommodation for Victorians affected by widespread flooding. From Tuesday, 250 beds at the Mickleham facility will open to help people whose homes have been inundated.

Back in 2019, Do Nothing on Dams Dan Andrews, in answer to a direct and simple question put to him by ABC Radio about why his government was committed to doing nothing on dams, provided one of his usual glib responses: “Well dams don’t make it rain.”

The state’s peak agricultural advocacy body says it is opposed to Australia signing up to a global ‘methane pledge’ that is killing small towns across the ditch ... NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle said while the federal government had been quick to promise no tax on farmers if it signed up to the Methane Pledge, the experience of New Zealand’s farmers proved talk was cheap.

Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said the Feral Deer Management Strategy 2022-27 would help build capacity to control feral deer. “Feral deer numbers across Queensland are growing and pose an increasing threat to biodiversity, agriculture and public safety,” Mr Furner said.

Kangaroo Island’s reputation as a pristine environment will be further strengthened, with a world-first dedicated sterile blowfly breeding facility to be built on the island to help eradicate sheep blowfly. A brownfield site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art insect breeding centre, at which up to 50 million flies a week will be bred and irradiated to be sterile before release.

Earlier this year a paper was published in an international journal that argued that if left long enough the southern forest of Western Australia was ‘unlikely to burn’. Furthermore that ‘the predicted likelihood of fire in undisturbed forest was 1 in 208 to 1 in 1149 years.’ In my opinion, the methodology used to obtain the results was so badly flawed as to make the conclusions meaningless.

Chris Oldfield. A high-ranking and prestigious SA Country Fire Service (CFS) award has been bestowed on Lucindale group officer Patrick Ross by State Chief Officer Mark Jones. The rare Chief Officer’s Commendation was awarded for Mr Ross’s leadership, decision making and keeping a cool head during critical emergency situations, while under intense pressure.

Chris Oldfield. A medal reflecting 60 years of incredible service has been awarded to our distinguished CFS member and author, Rex Hall. Since the launch of his successful book, Forty Flaming Years, in 2007, Mr Hall has penned three more. Mr Hall, one of Naracoorte’s favourite icons, was also a major force behind the town’s SA Volunteer Fire Fighters Museum.

“Relentless rain and flooding has led to many regional roads falling into severe disrepair and the expected deluge this week will only exacerbate the problem. I have driven on many regional roads recently and have spoken to several regional Mayors and they all agree the roads have never been worse – anywhere you go": Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack.

Community members have been left flabbergasted and frustrated at government agencies who threatened prosecution over repairing flood banks which have protected local properties throughout previous high rivers. Community members were told “expect to be flooded if you live on a floodplain” by the same authority that wants to build a flood bank to deliver environmental water to artificially flood the bush.

Murray-Darling Basin Water Ministers met on Ngunnawal Country (Canberra) to discuss the next steps to deliver the Basin Plan, delivery of water market reforms, the impacts of climate change on water resources, and opportunities to strengthen First Nations' role in water management and ownership. Most of the Murray–Darling Basin is the wettest it’s been in a long time.

Kylie Cook. Natural Intelligence Farming improves pasture diversity and productivity, rebuilds soils, repairs landscapes and benefits human and livestock health. The manager of Prospect Pastoral Co, a Wheatbelt mixed cropping and livestock operation of more than 60,000ha, Di Haggerty, spoke to the Wilson Inlet Growers Group in July ... She said Wheatbelt farmers faced many challenges, a drying climate, ‘gutless’ sandy soils, salinity and erosion of bare ground between cropping seasons.

The Murray River Group of Councils has welcomed an updated report from Frontier Economics and Tim Cummins and Associates which clearly shows the impact of Basin Plan water recovery on communities across Northern Victoria. As water Ministers prepare to meet to discuss the Basin Plan, this timely report puts the focus where it needs to be: on the people who live and work in the Basin.

“Construction on 24 kilometres of specially-designed predator-free fencing will begin in December. Once complete, we’ll start working to eradicate every feral predator from within it, before releasing locally extinct and threatened species that were once abundant back into Nungatta": Minister for Environment James Griffin.

The Clarence Way is close to breaking point, Kyogle Council general manager Graham Kennett said. “Despite the best efforts of our maintenance crews, the road is literally falling apart in sections behind them,” Mr Kennett said.

Robert Onfray. Many negatives are written about the clearing associated with developing Western Australia’s Wheatbelt into a farming paradise ... The Wheatbelt has played a pivotal role in a trend that has seen world poverty and starvation decrease despite  a 50  per cent increase in the world's population since  1990 to over 7.8 billion people.