Research

The Grains Research and Development Corporation says the decision by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority means grain growers will continue to have access to the herbicides, paraquat and diquat, under new restrictions.

Early signs of reduced fungicide performance in barley loose smut have been detected in key grain growing regions across Australia. While there is no cause for alarm, growers are reminded to remain proactive in disease management.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has delivered its long-awaited regulatory decision on the herbicides paraquat, and diquat. The APVMA announcement of the decision, together with the responses collected here, from Grain Producers Australia, Parkinson's Australia, Graingrowers and NSW Farmers, show that the decision has been neither universally approved nor condemned.

Forest & Wood Communities Australia (FWCA) has written to Macquarie University researcher Dr Carmen da Silva seeking clarification regarding comments made during a recent ABC Sydney Radio interview in which she stated that Australians need to "try to stop native forest logging" in order to help protect native bees.

The honeybee mite, Varroa destructor, finally breached Australia’s biosecurity defences 4 years ago, and is here to stay. Even more concerning, our standard treatments – such as specialised pesticides – are already failing. What does this mean for Australians, and what can we do about it?

Researchers at RMIT have found that high-power ultrasound can help extract protein from discarded cauliflower leaves, opening up a potential new use for a vegetable by-product ... ARR.News found out more about the process and potential opportunities from Kinjal Furia, the study's lead author and RMIT PhD candidate.

Australia’s first dedicated central hub for algal bloom research has opened in Adelaide. The $3.2 million Office for Algal Bloom Research has been established within the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), placing Adelaide at the forefront of algal bloom management and research.

Australia’s co-operative and mutual sector has again proved its resilience, recording an 8.4 per cent increase in annual revenue, against a backdrop of recurring domestic and global economic challenges. The latest National Mutual Economy Report published today by the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) reaffirms the sector’s robust health despite the impact of ongoing inflationary pressures in Australia and abroad.

Ian Musgrave. Paraquat is one of the world’s most widely used herbicides. It’s also highly toxic and some research points to a link with Parkinson’s disease ... Let’s see what the evidence says about paraquat’s toxicity and any link with Parkinson’s disease.

Sentiment among Australia’s agricultural producers continued to track lower this quarter, with concerns about cost pressures in the wake of Middle Eastern tensions remaining top of mind for farmers across the country. The quarter two Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, released today, found national sentiment at its lowest point since November 2006 as it dropped to a net reading of - 48 per cent.

A slowing in global milk production - following an intense period of growth - is set to see global dairy markets headed back towards supply and demand ‘balance’, Rabobank says in its newly-released Q2 Global Dairy Quarterly. The report, by the international agribusiness bank’s RaboResearch division, says the rate of global milk production growth finally began to slow in quarter two this year.

Australia’s farmers are embracing new income streams to remain viable, but the nation’s tax system has not kept pace, according to new research ... by AgriFutures Australia. The report, Assessing the Implications of Emerging Farm Income Streams for Primary Producer Tax Policy, shows modern farm businesses are increasingly hosting renewable energy projects, participating in environmental markets and managing land access agreements...

Another study of koalas’ genetics has been published but a key result flowing from this research was not clearly identified by the authors ... The crashes in unsustainably high numbers of koalas, consequent to the Federation Drought but attributed to shooting for pelts, didn’t cause genetic bottlenecks.

Toby Kovacs. As my new study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution shows, koalas experienced a population crash about 100,000 years ago. This finding rewrites our understanding of the genetic history of koalas in Australia – and overturns previous theories about what caused their decline in ancient times.

Adelaide University research into the complexity of plant exo-hydrolytic enzyme could have multiple benefits for medical, pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology industries. For more than a decade, Professor Maria Hrmova, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, and a team of around 30 experts have been exploring the fundamental catalytic properties of plant exo-hydrolytic enzymes.

Growers in the far eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia will benefit from two new Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investments exploring long coleoptile wheat, deep-seeded crops and deep phosphorus fertiliser placement.

The Sesame Central Program Framework provides a comprehensive roadmap for developing a sustainable and commercially viable sesame industry in Australia.

“The recent rain has given cattle producers the confidence to hold onto stock, abruptly tightening availability and driving a major price lift...”

South Australian volunteers delivered $45 billion in value to the local economy last year with younger South Australians leading the way and volunteer numbers surpassing one million for the first time. According to the 2025 State of Volunteering report, released today by Volunteering SA&NT, volunteers created $45 billion in gross social and economic value across 294.8 million hours.

There are almost three unhosted Airbnbs for every long-term rental available to rent in Western Australia, with the ratio in regional areas blowing out to 15 to 1, new research has found. Shelter WA’s ‘Death By 10,000 Cuts’ report analysed 88 localities across the state between March and September 2025...

Michael Vardon. Australia’s data centre rush now rivals the mining boom. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman last week said Australia could become a “data centre capital of the world”. This would come at an environmental cost ... Before committing fully, we need granular detail on how much water and energy these centres use.

A peer-reviewed study concludes that predation by an introduced species is the primary driver of swift parrot decline, and that conservation strategy needs to catch up with that reality. TTV ... says a new peer-reviewed study vindicates what the forestry sector has long argued: that native forest harvesting is not the primary cause of swift parrot decline…