Research

Recent Dietetic students David and Dylan from Deakin University conducted a project for East Wimmera Health Services (EWHS) regarding Diabetes in the area. The following is a summary article of their findings and recommendations for improving the service and overall health of consumers within the EWHS catchment areas.

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!

After extreme market volatility and record-high prices in recent years, global fertiliser prices are expected to settle in 2024, despite uncertainty posed by the Israel-Hamas conflict as it currently stands, Rabobank says in a new report. In its just-released Semi Annual Fertiliser Outlook, titled What is next?, the agribusiness banking specialist says while the Israel-Hamas conflict creates some uncertainty in the outlook for fertiliser markets, the current impact for the food and agri sectors is manageable.

Blink and you’d miss it- the Varroa mite’s minute presence is all but invisible to the naked eye. Yet the tiny mite is the greatest known threat to Australia’s honey bee and pollination industry. For nearly a year and a half the industry has been battling the tiny parasite, cumulating in the largest biosecurity outbreak in the country’s history and initiating a Federal $132 million varroa response plan.

The annual assessment of Commonwealth fish stocks from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has found that the majority of stocks assessed were both not overfished and not subject to overfishing. The ABARES Fishery status reports 2023 provides an annual, independent assessment of the biological and economic status of Commonwealth managed fisheries.

Australia’s agricultural workforce is steadily growing and changing, with more women and young people joining the sector. The ABARES Insights Snapshot of Australia’s agricultural workforce shows the changing state of the agricultural workforce based on data from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing.

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has published new analysis of the broader market conditions and economic contribution of the red meat industry in the latest State of the Industry Report 2023. The report produced by MLA provides an overview of Australia’s red meat and livestock industry from the prior calendar year.

Wimmera farmers have provided a valuable insight into changes in farming practices, future priorities and key challenges in Australia’s longest running research project of its type.

Peer-reviewed research published in the Australian Forestry journal has confirmed something that forest firefighters have long known: if forests are left unburned for many years, they still carry heavy bushfire fuels, making firefighting difficult and dangerous. The new research demolishes the theory that if forests are left unburnt, they become non-flammable ... the scientists measured and analysed fuels in karri forests that ranged from 1 to 92 years since last being burned.

The Rural Bank Australian Farmland Values Report has tracked every farmland sale annually for almost three decades and is the longest running analysis of the farmland market in Australia.  This special edition, supplemented by farmland sales data from DAS (Digital Agriculture Services), is a mid-year market update to inform vendors and purchasers about movements in transaction volumes and sale prices around Australia since the issue of the annual edition in May 2023.

Visitors at the Narrandera Fisheries Centre Open Day this Saturday will have the opportunity to see first-hand the important work done at the facility to research, enhance and protect native fish and fisheries in NSW. Activities will include kids fishing, hatchery and aquaria tours, research displays and the chance to meet Agro the famous Murray Cod.

Known for its soothing fragrance and myriad of applications, lavender has emerged as a versatile and sought-after plant that is thriving across Australia.

With the global insect market expected to be worth more than US$6.8 billion by 2032, AgriFutures Australia has released a new five-year plan to accelerate the growth of the emerging Australian industry.

Shitbox Rally Spring 2023 – Port Douglas, Qld to Adelaide, SA via Birdsville. 500 people in teams of two will leave Port Douglas on  Saturday 14th  October 2023  in the morning. Then after 7 days of driving over 3,000kms on dusty, mostly unsealed roads they will cross the finish line in Adelaide, SA on Friday 20th  October…..however, some cars simply won’t make it.

The third national survey of pests and weeds shows 85 per cent of land managers spent on average around $21,950 in 2022 on pest and weed species management ... “Land managers reported that feral animals continue to cause considerable impacts on their properties in 2022,” Dr Greenville said.

Australia’s sheep, cattle and goat markets are being impacted by very high production numbers, compounded by already large volumes of meat in congested supply chains, according to agricultural analysts at Rabobank. For the sheep sector particularly, there is effectively a "mountain of supply at the moment" following two "extremely good seasons"...

Cost-effective feeding strategies to support hive health and productivity could strengthen industry resilience. Supplementary feeding of bees could make Australian beekeepers more resilient to extreme climatic events, such as fire, drought or floods ... “The need for pollination services is also increasing at a fast rate, making supplementary feeding a more important management tool than ever before”: Dr Madlen Kratz, NSWDPI.

Mark McHenry is a physicist, an innovator and an explorer of clean energy solutions. He’s worked on research projects in America, the Philippines and Mozambique and is an Associate Professor at Murdoch Uni’s Harry Butler Institute ... Mark is currently putting his physics knowledge into numerous food and energy projects and one of his studies involves truffles.

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?

Solar, wind and battery storage will not be enough for Australia to meet its net zero emissions target by 2050, according to a senior CSIRO researcher – and using fossil fuels to produce hydrogen is still much cheaper than using renewable energy. Dr Vicki Au, from the CSIRO’s hydrogen industry mission, with 20 years’ experience in research and development, said other solutions, including hydrogen, were part of the energy mix required to achieve the net zero target.