Land & environment

Denmark cattle farmers Michael and Laura Sinclair will make their operations more sustainable and profi table through carbon farming. They are among 43 landowners, including three Aboriginal enterprise properties, seeking Carbon for Farmers Vouchers of up to $15,000 so they can gain advice and develop carbon-farming plans.

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) working on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project is operational again, 12 months after getting stuck in soft ground creating a large sinkhole above it.

Goolwa South Australian resident, Ken Jury, sees a better way forward for the basin and believes that governments are risking the viability of the whole basin. Ken, an investigative journalist with a passion for marine and aquatic ecology ... is an expert on the South Australian Lower Lakes and Coorong ...

Currently, 4,622 gigalitres of entitlements is held by government as environmental water, and Australia’s largest irrigator, Dr Simon Banks, Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, was joined by Central Murray Environmental Floodplain Group, community representatives and Paul Madden OAM of Arbuthnot Sawmills for a tour of local farms and forests. John Toll farms at Gunbower ...

The thing that should be worrying farmers is not just the fact that the government has claimed the credit (and credits) for itself of not allowing landholders to clear land to help make the 2030 target, but they are now banking on farmers burying the emissions of the rest of the nation in their soil to help reach the unachievable 2050 target ... don’t sign up to any soil carbon contract until you are sure you won’t need those credits yourself when the inevitable carbon taxes arrive.

Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh. Floodwater is known to be a carrier of biological, chemical and physical hazards affecting food safety during production and processing of fresh horticultural produce. Runoff from livestock, industrial, residential and sewage treatment areas into waterways and their overflow can contaminate water sources, production fields and postharvest processing facilities.

Clive Crouch. Over the past few days, a group of Little Red Flying Foxes have been roosting in trees near Nhill Lake. Little Red Flying Foxes are widespread throughout eastern and northern Australia, and they sometimes venture further inland but rarely come this far west.

Will Hunter. Residents on West Terrace, Kadina, are pleading with Copper Coast Council for improvements to surrounding stormwater facilities before further rain. Two recent events, including almost 98 millimetres of rain in Kadina over four days at the start of December, have put residents on flood watch.

In response to the extreme bushfire season of 2019-2020, the Royal Commission made 15 recommendations. The recommendations were released in October 2020. The 15 recommendations fell under Federal Government responsibility. They have all been implemented and completed.

In a sudden storm several trees fell down on the Summerland Way at Leeville at 1.30pm, Saturday December 16. Emergency services were called to reports of a crash on the roadway near Crawford Road.

SFF is calling on the Minister for Agriculture to refer the inhumane actions of the National Parks and Wildlife Service during aerial culling trials over Kosciuszko National Park to NSW Police for investigation ... chasing an animal for several hundred yards whilst delivering as many as 15 shots into it, to induce enough bleeding to euthanise the animal, would be a reportable offence under the POCTA Act.

Jack Bradshaw. Australia, along with 16 other countries, has recently committed to the “Initiative for Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood” at COP28 in Dubai ... How will Australia support this initiative with insufficient forest resources to service even the present demand?

The Australian Government signed the “30 x 30” target at COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, with a commitment to ensure that 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea is protected through the establishment of Protected Areas (PAs) and Other Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) ... The WWF has urged the Australian Government to set up a $5B Green Fund to acquire forests, productive land and reforest wheat fields.   The land needed to meet the 30:30 objective has to be “high biodiversity value” land in accordance with the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Recent flash flooding in Naracoorte was the result of a new two-day rainfall record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The official two-day rainfall total in the 48 hours to 9am on November 25 was 117.8 mm. “(It) is not only a new November record, but also an annual record in the bureau observations at Naracoorte – current and former site – since 1884.”

In response to Black Saturday, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission introduced new training requirements for firefighters. Locals Amanda Fedorowicz, Steven Coady and Beatrice Hercott Atkinson know all about the current training regime.

The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA) is proudly announcing its transformation into the Australian Wild Game Industry Council (AWGIC). The change reflects the industry’s commitment to the expansion of its national membership base, representing the interests of wild game meat and skin processors throughout Australia.

Most Aussie farmers say climate change is the single greatest threat to their business, according to Farmers for Climate Action’s online survey on the Net Zero Sector Plan for Agriculture and Land. Farmers for Climate Action created the survey to make sure farmers … could easily have their say as part of the Federal Government’s Sector Plan consultations.

Staff from Mangalore-based business, Kestrel Aviation, were recently recognised with The National Emergency Medal for their services during recent fire events across the country. The National Emergency Medal is awarded to persons who rendered sustained or significant service during nationally significant emergencies in Australia.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is concerned not enough is being done to protect the rights of landholders when it comes to the development and operation of transmission lines across farmland … newly released Land Access Code of Practice falls short of offering farmers the protections they need.

Graziers are urged to keep an eye out for pasture dieback, which is continuing to spread to new areas of Queensland. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) has produced a fact sheet to help graziers identify and manage the condition, which causes the death of otherwise healthy pastures.

A new book about the rivers and wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin includes information about the Upper Murray and is now on its way to thousands of primary schools across Australia. Commissioned by the Jane Goodall Institute in London and Sydney, the book was written by the Petaurus Education Group in Albury-Wodonga.