Research

New research shows the South Australian economy could lose over $103 million every year if jetties along our coastlines ceased to exist, supporting calls for the State Government to increase funding for repairs and maintenance. Released by the Local Government Association, the Value of Jetties report for the first time places a dollar figure on just how much jetties are worth to SA communities and the economy.

What do the scientists say about the fire ants at Wardell? Will they spread? How worried should we be? Originally from South America, the fire ants are considered one of the world’s most invasive pests.

Australia’s agricultural sector is "moving confidently into 2024", with an overall positive outlook for the nation’s farmers and agribusiness industries in the year ahead, Rabobank says in its newly-released annual outlook ... while agri commodity prices are "well down on the highs seen over the previous two years", the bank’s price forecasts point to "continued positive farm margins in key agricultural sectors in 2024"

With global sea surface temperatures being warmest on record for the past nine months consecutively, there is potential for marine heat stress impacts this summer including in the Lord Howe Island Marine Park. In anticipation, monitoring is underway throughout the Lord Howe Island lagoon to detect signs of disturbance from elevated water temperatures.

“Good crop disease management will be required in 2024 due to the early summer rain events and potential disease risk in south-east of Victoria,” Agriculture Victoria Research Scientist Dr Hari Dadu has confirmed.  The cereal disease expert will be outlining his approach at the BCG Members’ Only Trials Review Day on Friday, February 23, at the Birchip Leisure Centre. 

Why do we have sacred topics? Ideas, theories or policies that appear to be off limits ... Three sacred topics of late have been Covid-19, climate and carbon. What happens when ‘misinformation’ actually is proven correct?

The 2023 Australian Beef Eating Quality Insights (ABEQI) report has shown that the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) program generated $463 million in farm gate returns for producers over the past two years. The ABEQI report was generated through the analysis of all MSA graded cattle in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 financial years using data collected by MSA-accredited graders...

For an organisation that invests a considerable portion of their half a billion dollar budget predicting what’s going to happen in 100 years’ time, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has fallen short on the all-important, short term forecasts ... Farmers want less climate change lecturing on the doomsday predictions of global warming, and more lectures on the complexity of the dynamic system that actually influences the day to day, week to week, and month to month rain and temperature that impacts their annual production.

Margrit Beemster. Research has been conducted in the Yallakool Creek and upper Wakool River near Deniliquin to find an easier way to detect adult freshwater mussels and to better understand why mussels are no longer as plentiful as they once were.

Patricia Gill. A Denmark Community Foundation-commissioned report on social isolation has found that Denmark has more people living alone than the rest of WA. Economist Juliet Grist of Rural and Regional Economic Solutions undertook desktop research and case study analysis of social isolation in Denmark.

Tasmanian farmers have the opportunity to take a close-up look at the results of a three-year industrial hemp variety trial at a field day to be held in the Northern Midlands ... Fairfield is home to one of nine sites across the country that make up the AgriFutures Australia national Industrial Hemp Variety Trial (IHVT) program.

Industrial hemp grower and country music legend James Blundell will open the gates to his southern Queensland property where a range of different industrial hemp varieties are being trialled for their suitability to the local growing conditions ... The sites are among nine across the country that make up the AgriFutures Australia national Industrial Hemp Variety Trial (IHVT) program...

Michelle Daw. A shark behaviour specialist believes a three-pronged approach is needed to reduce the likelihood and impact of shark attacks. Professor Charlie Huveneers is a marine ecologist at Flinders University and a keen surfer.

Is this really how harvested forests are left? Australian Rural & Regional News looks into recent statements that highlight continuing conflicting and confusing information in the public domain about connections between forestry operations and bushfires and whether prescribed burns reduce bushfire risk.

Vic Jurskis comments on a research article on the causes of morbidity and mortality in rescued koala joeys ... "academics don't see the big picture of forest ecology and management ... the scientific solution would be to restore frequent mild burning in the bush ... "

The Victorian Government has launched a review of the current approaches to dingo management and conservation to quell its radical left-wing backers. At the same time, it has extended a legislative rule allowing control of dingoes by only one year, as opposed to five years in previous instances...

New research focused on Australian thoroughbreds is now available to help understand the impact of a range of lesions on a yearling’s potential racing performance. The Investigation of what radiographic lesions in thoroughbred yearlings are significant in limiting future racing performance project was delivered by AgriFutures Australia in conjunction with The University of Queensland and has significant implications across the industry.

Erin McWaters. In November 2022, Shannon and Erin were handed the keys to the Autumn 2021 Shitbox Rally AU Falcon of local Lucindale Survivors Rohan Giles and Andrew Wilks, and began their fundraising campaign to get the face-lifted Sherlee the Shitbox off the Port Douglas start-line on October 13th 2023 for the Spring 2023 Rally, bound for Adelaide via Birdsville.

The December 2023 Situation and Outlook Report from Dairy Australia forecasts milk production to remain steady over the 2023/24 season despite the anticipated impacts of the El Niño weather event ... "High production costs, Australia’s price competitiveness of dairy products and economic constraints on consumers are emerging risks": Eliza Redfern.

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) firefighters battled a blaze in a grain silo at Leeton and discovered a new use for their Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or drones, that is expected to significantly reduce the length of emergency operations. The Leeton crew is now preparing to share this newfound capability with their firefighting colleagues across the nation.