International

Due to import restrictions, Ukrainian farmers lost about 10 per cent of their income. Although imports have increased, the domestic market of Ukraine is still characterised by an oversupply. The selling price of wheat on EXW terms is less than the cost price. This means that imports using gray schemes and dumping prices will continue.

I keep hearing that we should emulate European farmers by driving our tractors through the streets protesting against our Federal government’s attempts to stop farmers from farming. However, before farmers rush to the tractor, it's crucial to understand the vast differences between Europe's agricultural sector and Australia's ... This is what happens when farmers get into bed with government and take their coin.  It’s a lesson we should learn.

A dedicated committee of women have been working hard to deliver two fabulous International Women’s Day (IWD) events for Tennant Creek next week. Under the leadership of Barkly Regional Council and Tennant Creek Women’s Refuge, a diverse committee of women, along with the generous support of the Northern Territory Government’s Office of Gender Equity and Diversity and a multitude of local organisations, have come together to bring these events to life.

This week I thought I would join the lack of EV charging stations across regional WA together with the Australian government's adoption of the strict new Euro 6d emissions standards and give you my views on what this is likely to mean politically and its potential to redefine Australia.

Did anyone notice the announcement dropped just before Christmas of the new emissions rules that will impact sales of most of the popular utes SUVs and 4WDs farmers and tradies rely on? ... For those who know their cars, the days are numbered for the number series 75s, 80s, 300s, 150s,  300s, not to mention the Raptors, Rams or even the bog standard Hilux, Triton and Nivara.

In 1938, during the Munich Crisis, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain expressed his distaste for making war preparations over "a quarrel in a faraway land between people of which we know nothing" ... Like Neville Chamberlain, our Prime Minister shows no interest in getting involved in a quarrel between people of whom he has no interest; yet anyone with the slightest awareness of international relations would know that there is no longer such a thing as a faraway land of which we can afford to have no interest ... Yemen is en route for the ships that take our grain and livestock to key markets such as Egypt and Israel.

Peace and the end of the war are the most important things that Ukrainian farmers need. This is understood not only by Ukrainians, but also by all friends of Ukraine. Politicians from the United States, a country that is Ukraine’s main ally, said New Year’s wishes to the Ukrainian people on the pages of Australian Rural & Regional News.

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.

Farmers across the globe have united on climate with the newly formed Agriculture Climate Alliance. The Alliance has released its first statement from COP28 in Dubai ... “Farmers around the world are at the front line of climate change..." the statement says.

Ukrainian agriculture has suffered catastrophic losses due to the war with Russia. However, compensation for these losses does not have clear prospects. This means that the prospects for the recovery of this sector of the economy are in doubt ... ARR.News asked US experts one question: What political decisions can be made by the USA governments to compensate for Ukraine's losses from the Russian invasion?

In this article Robert Onfray details the lack of environmental scrutiny of the wind factories and pumped hydro projects built or planned in Queensland as the state sanctions the wholesale clearing of remnant native forest on the coastal ranges straddling the Great Dividing Range ... 10,178 hectares of koala and 6,744 hectares of greater glider habitats are set to disappear if all the renewable proposals in Queensland are approved ... "blunt force trauma" is to be used to euthanise injured animals or those that cannot be relocated, particularly koalas.

Meeting in London, Global Sugar Alliance members celebrated the sugarcane industry’s positive contribution to sustainable global food and energy security, acknowledged the role of ethanol, derived from sugarcane, as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels and renewed their call for all countries to fix the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Jo Russell. Kim and Joo and their son Ping, travelled to Hualien, Taiwan in July to take part in a Tzu Chi retreat and to be present for Ping’s certification as a Tzu Chi commissioner.  Kim described Taiwan as their spiritual home.

We all know that the federal Labor government has set itself the impossible task of reducing carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, plus setting itself a target of achieving 82 per cent renewables across the power grid ... Hence the recent announcement by federal anti-agriculture Minister, Murray Watt, offering up the livestock sector as one industry which could be made into an unwilling sacrificial lamb to the climate change gods by imposing rather than hoping for emissions cuts.

Imagine filling up the farm fuel tanks for harvest if the price hit, say, $3 or $4 a litre, or worse, you were rationed to half the fuel you brought last November/December as a result of a supply shock. It’s a real risk, something I wrote about three years ago when I suggested the solution was to increase the level of domestic reserve storage of refined diesel and petrol by encouraging farmers and miners to keep 12 months of storage on their properties.

The population of planet Earth is increasing. But the area of the planet is not growing. Sooner or later, this will make famine a mortal threat to the population of many countries. Scientific and technological progress will not save everyone. After all, increasing the efficiency of agricultural labour can solve the problem only when the area of agricultural land is sufficient for this. Therefore, food wars will become part of the future of humanity. The first such war is already underway. This is the war in Ukraine!

The Australian Hide Skin and Leather Exporters Association (AHSLEA) along with 27 other international leather industry organisations, is calling on the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) to recognise the positive impact of natural materials such as leather on people, lives, and livelihoods and as a means of directly mitigating climate impact ... AHSLEA Executive Officer Dennis King said over the last four decades Australian leather processors have implemented a range of exciting sustainable initiatives to reduce leather’s carbon footprint including adopting cleaner tanning technologies and practices.

The Northern Territory Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kerala State Government, India to develop further economic, social and cultural relationships between our two regions. This is the first MOU the Northern Territory Government has entered into with an Indian state, and formalises and reinforces the relationships between the two jurisdictions.

Robert Onfray. I am not sure many people are fully aware of the massive engineering changes currently underway in our rural landscape. The changes are on a scale never attempted in this country before, and it is swallowing obscene amounts of money for minimal benefit and, indeed, no proof it will improve the climate ... Australian Rural & Regional News will open a page for discussion on this comprehensive and provocative article on the renewable energy transition.

The large volume of production and broken logistics have made Ukrainian grain an attractive target for politicians and businessmen ... ARR.News asks Ukrainian market specialists: how much will the cost of Ukrainian grain decrease if problems with exports persist?