News

The first of over 9.1 million pine seedlings have started their journey to State forests across NSW from Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Blowering Nursery, the largest crop in the nursery’s history. Phil Green, Plantation Improvement Manager, said the 9.1 million seedlings will join with a further five million from the Grafton Nursery and contracted supply and will be planted to rebuild fire-affected and previously harvested plantations around Tumut, Bombala, Bathurst, Mossvale, Walcha and Grafton.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has started its record 2021 replanting program, with three million seedlings set to be replanted into 2,800 hectares of Bathurst pine plantations previously harvested or affected by the black summer bushfires. Forestry Corporation’s Silviculture Manager Mike Freeman said this winter’s planting program is an important milestone in the organisation’s bushfire recovery program.

Australia’s leading rural charity Rural Aid has today delivered hay to farmers battling the ongoing mouse plague. Two road trains carrying 144 bales of hay arrived in Narromine on Thursday 24 June. Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said most farmers receiving the hay had their stockpiles decimated by mice.

Local Government Minister Chansey Paech and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo were in town this week to launch the revised edition of the Remote Engagement and Coordination Strategy (RECS). The RECS is part of a suite of tools designed to improve all aspects of regional and remote engagement, travel, and coordination of community visits ... Work on the RECS second edition was led by a group of NT Government agencies and the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory.

The Tennant Creek Local Post Office operations will be taken over by Australia Post next Tuesday. “We look forward to continuity of services for the Tennant Creek community and to servicing our valued customers there,” a spokesperson said. The move comes after former manager Rebecca Liebelt and her husband Greg Liebelt, who are jointly accused of money laundering appeared in court mid-May.

“There are a number of strategic benefits and alignments that will result from what is a financially compelling acquisition, which include greater export supply to key Asian export markets, production scale, increased variety offering, including rights to commercialise varieties with plant breeder rights in certain jurisdictions, access to a proven 30-year proprietary breeding program, expanded geographic footprint and extended season timing,” Sean Hallahan, Costa Group CEO said.

Peter and Jane Hughes have splashed out a figure believed to be north of $180 million to buy the 438,000-hectare Miranda Downs in Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria, setting a new record for a single pastoral holding as the agricultural sector sees a wave of investment demand amid strong trading conditions.

Renowned sixth generation cattle and sheep farmer, and wind farm developer Peter Downie has quietly bought one of the Apple Isle’s historic farms in the largest single asset transaction in Tasmania in recent memory. Industry sources told Australian Property Journal, that Downie has acquired Stonehouse Grazing in Lemont, from farmer Tony Seymour for $46 million.

“Australian agriculture has continued to perform relatively well despite the ongoing disruption of the pandemic, the higher Australian dollar and the trade issues with China. This is reflected in the ongoing uplift in annualised farmland values, as the demand for agricultural property remains high," says Tim Sheridan, Rural Funds Management.

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group has quickly exited of the Warragundi aggregation in the NSW Mudgee region, selling the 5,800 hectare property for $25 million just two years after its acquisition.

A new emergency services centre with the capacity for an incident control centre if there is a major bushfire in the area is being built in Gingin. The Gingin Volunteer Fire & Rescue and Gingin South Bushfire Brigade will share the Gingin Emergency Services Centre ... Emergency Services Minister Reece Whitby said volunteer firefighters in the Gingin area had been in the thick of bushfire fighting responses this year, including the Red Gully and Wooroloo bushfires.

Gabrielle Duykers. An Edenhope trained kelpie fetched more than $35,000 at a recent auction for his superb herding abilities, smashing the world record for the purchase of a working dog. The two-year-old dog named Hoover was sold to a Victorian sheep and cattle grazier at the Casterton Kelpie Association’s 25th Annual Working Dog auction on June 13.

Last Wednesday a group of 40 local sheep producers attended a Lamb Marking Best Practice workshop organised by Western Murray Land Improvement Group (WMLIG) and Central Murray Sheep Producer at “Glenbar” in Mallan. The workshop was facilitated by Geoff Duddy from Sheep Solutions who has dedicated the last 30 years to improving sheep producers’ and enterprises’ skills and knowledge base across all areas of sheep production. Whilst recent wet weather has not been ideal for marking, the dry day offered up the opportunity for farmers to learn and recognise best practice.

Kirstin Nicholson. Cohuna’s Josh Treacy has been signed on to the Fremantle Dockers for another two seasons. Josh played his first AFL game for the Dockers in round four of the 2021 season in April against the Hawks and now has seven games under his belt, citing the win against Sydney as the best game he has ever played in and been a part of.

Thousands of new jobs and significant infrastructure builds in regional NSW will be delivered through the 2021-22 NSW Budget, supporting the recovery and future prosperity of regional communities following drought, bushfires, floods, the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the mice plague.

Through more than $875 million in new measures supporting South Australia’s regions, the Marshall Liberal Government will build key infrastructure, drive economic growth and recovery to ensure our regional communities thrive.