Research

Ivona Rose. Interest in tiny homes is increasing on the Central Coast and across Australia, driven by soaring house prices, lack of housing availability, shifts toward sustainable living, downsizing, dwindling available land, and the growth of short-stay rentals like Airbnb ... Can tiny homes play a meaningful role in affordable housing, and where can people locate them?

A wildfire burning over five days would do more damage to vegetation and biodiversity in the northern jarrah forest than five decades of climate change has done ..."This forest has survived for some four to five million years. I am confident it can survive for a few decades longer. We humans must recognise that the ecosystem is never static, and be able to live with and accept some level of change": Frank Batini, professional forester and environmental consultant.

Extreme weather, the rising Aussie dollar and fluctuating global demand have driven a complex start to the year for Australian agriculture, Bendigo Bank’s Agribusiness Insights team outline. Key insights from the latest Commodity Update include Pressure on producers as extreme weather impacts livestock, damages infrastructure...

Is the slow decay of the iconic Struan House south of Naracoorte a case of “demolition by neglect” — and has South Australia squandered a once-in-a-generation chance to anchor cutting-edge agricultural research in the Limestone Coast?

Caitlin Menadue. A growing number of Australians are leaving capital cities for regional towns, with Yorke Peninsula among the areas seeing the shift ... Coastal towns such as Wallaroo continue to attract retirees and young families ... "It's spacious, you can have chickens and it's great exposure for kids," said Simone Walters.

Geopolitics remains the "dominant risk factor" for Australian agriculture in the year ahead, Rabobank says in its newly-released annual outlook, with the prospect that fast-changing global trade rules and volatile commodity prices are set to continue.

The town of Yass has had many lives. Today it is a market town, but also a dormitory suburb for Canberra’s younger public servants and a place of retirement for farmers and pastoralists who have handed their land on to the next generation. As a result, it is a pleasing mix of both young and old ... As the title suggests, this book describes the growth of Yass and charts some of its several aspects, from a frontier town surrounded by bushrangers to the gateway to the Murray River and the great grazing lands of western New South Wales and Victoria.

Cane toads are predicted to invade Western Australia’s Pilbara region by 2041 if left unchecked, but the Northern Territory’s population of the pests hold key lessons that could save billions in eradication costs ... academics found the toxic creatures could colonise three quarters of the Pilbara, threatening 25 native species in the biodiversity hotspot.

Without agriculture, hundreds of millions of people would go hungry every day. Yet modern agriculture is increasingly judged not just on how much food it produces — but on how well it stores carbon, protects biodiversity, and reduces emissions. Farmers are being asked to deliver food, climate solutions and conservation outcomes, while still running profitable businesses.

New research will help deepen understanding of the dynamics that influence agricultural labour and skills shortages in five of Australia’s important agricultural regions. AgriFutures Australia, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), has launched a new initiative to help tackle one of the biggest challenges facing Australian agriculture: building a stronger, more sustainable regional workforce.

Satellite imagery and artificial intelligence can detect with high accuracy two invasive weed species in Australia, posing a new opportunity for defense against these pervasive plants. Research conducted by Charles Darwin University (CDU) and Charles Sturt University (CSU) explored the potential for SkySat satellite imagery and AI algorithms to detect and map African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) and bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata).

Roger Underwood. A Bold Endeavour – a history of our work in the Western Australian rangelands is a terrific book. I read it from cover to cover and then went back and read some parts again ... if the political will for action ever arises, best-practice land management systems for the WA rangelands are now known and understood, and could be implemented across the rangelands tomorrow.  This situation can be attributed to the work of that small band of tough, dedicated scientists of the Rangeland Management Branch during its short, but dramatic history. 

The Northern Territory Government takes a holistic, evidence-based approach to sustainably managing water in the Territory. The Cambrian Limestone Aquifer (CLA) is vast and plentiful and contributes to water resources across a large area of the Territory.

For its 250-year history, the United States has been the largest immigration centre in the world. As of 2024, the country was home to 52,375,047 immigrants ... The concentration of illegal immigrants in the agricultural sector in some states is so high that it raises the question, "Are authorities truly combating illegal immigration, or is illegal immigration officially encouraged as a supplement to legal immigration?"

Export market demand has supported elevated prices for Australian lamb, mutton and beef through much of 2025, with favourable market conditions expected to continue into the new year, according to agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank. In its Global animal protein outlook 2026, the bank’s RaboResearch division says high cattle inventories will maintain elevated Australian beef production, while sheepmeat production takes time to recover.

Michelle Daw. A team of citizen scientists is monitoring the impact of the harmful algal bloom on two southern Yorke Peninsula jetties that were home to a dazzling array of sea life. Certified volunteer divers involved in the Edithburgh and Wool Bay Jetties Marine Watch are conducting monthly photography, transects of the seafloor, and quadrat observations under and around both jetties.

The Americans had Apollo. The Soviets had Soyuz. The Chinese have Tiangong. And Australia? We now have the world’s first taxpayer-funded attempt to guide space exploration using songlines ... The real culprit here is modern academia, which now treats all “knowledge systems” as equal. They are not. Knowledge that is testable, repeatable, measurable and falsifiable is superior to knowledge that is not.

A study tracking not only the forces that drive drought but the damage it leaves behind has revealed that droughts have lasted longer in Australia in recent decades, especially in areas with the most people and farms. UNSW researchers analysed drought trends across Australia between 1911 and 2020 based on rainfall shortages and falling river and dam levels.

A sea of red Santa hats on the beach is a common Christmas Day sight in Australia, and a new study pinpoints the exact beaches near you that almost guarantee perfect beachside weather conditions this December 25th 2025.

WFI Insurance today shared concerning rural crime statistics in conjunction with the University of New England Centre for Rural Criminology, revealing 90 per cent of NSW farmers have experienced crime on farms, with around 30 per cent victimised 7 or more times. The crime statistics from UNE’s National Rural Crime Survey were highlighted on a special WFI rural crime podcast which aims to help farmers reduce their risk of being targeted by criminals.

The world’s farms could become one of the most powerful tools in the fight against climate change according to a new international study led by QUT. Published in Plant Physiology, the paper lays out a framework to assess how plant agriculture and synthetic biology innovations can help mitigate climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage.