Research

CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, is part of a nappy recycling trial announced today to help address the 1.5 billion disposable nappies that end up in Australian landfill each year ... The trial has been underway in South Australia since July 2022 and uses anaerobic digestion to turn the organic materials in used nappies into nutrient-rich compost, as well as bioenergy which is captured and used to power the recycling process.

Australia’s farmers are heading towards the end of 2022 with signs of growing optimism, following a year where challenges around high input costs, excessive rainfall and biosecurity concerns had taken the edge off otherwise generally very positive seasonal conditions and commodity prices. The latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, released on 14 December 2022, found sentiment was edging back up after four consecutive quarters of decline...

David McPherson, NSW DPI. Dr Law is one of Australia’s leading forest ecologists, with the sustained excellence of his research and distinguished service to Australian zoology recognised with his appointment in 2021 as a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW. In the history of the Society there have been fewer than 100 Fellows elected ... Criticisms of the scientific excellence or objectivity of the research undertaken by Dr Law are unfounded.

Australian consumers are seeing significant price increases across dairy products – based on the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) data – with milk prices having risen at the fastest rate since records began, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank. In its Global Dairy Quarterly Q4 2022 – Walking the Tightrope into 2023, Rabobank says while the Australian consumer has shown resilience in the face of cost-of-living pressures, signs of dairy demand weakness are emerging as a willingness and ability to spend on discretionary items softens.

With the price of Australian fertiliser imports rising by a record 128 per cent, PyroAg, a leader in creating commercial quantities of Pyroligneous acid or wood vinegar, is urging Australian farmers to embrace the next generation of sustainable farming practices, as well as stripping their fertiliser costs significantly, with scientifically backed high density liquid that will provide proven substantial benefits to the Australian agricultural sector.

Rapidly growing interest in the biodegradable, drought-resistant sunn hemp crop is the basis for increased investment in the sector ... It is a focus in the AgriFutures Australia’s Emerging Industries Program thanks to its diverse application as a fibre, fodder, biofuel and even in pharmaceuticals.

Vic Jurskis responds to ARR.News questions including about the different methods for monitoring koalas, sustainable koala populations, koala habitat and the relationship with timber harvesting ... "Gathering numbers should not be an end. Deliberations of the TSSC assume that more is better. The koala’s ecological history of irruptions and crashes in numbers after European arrival clearly shows this not to be the case. Effective monitoring requires an understanding of the reasons for any real changes in numbers."

Chris Oldfield. The sweet smell of roses hangs in the air wherever you walk in the garden of internationally acclaimed hybridist George Thomson and his wife Linda. On the outskirts of Naracoorte, they live among hundreds of colourful roses – varieties which have taken decades to breed and grow.

Animal protein producers and processors face an “inflection point” with a need to respond to structural changes in the market even with production levels and prices likely to remain elevated next year, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank.

Two of the world’s leading palaeontologists along with scientific researchers and educators have gathered to discuss the importance of the Bass Coast Dinosaurs Trail in Inverloch ... "It is a true legacy project for Council to be at the forefront of creating a world class tourism experience that celebrates the work of scientists, volunteers and the international significance of polar dinosaurs to the Australian Continent": Bass Coast Mayor Michael Whelan.

“Crops in Western Australia and South Australia benefitted the most from spring conditions, with total production in both states forecast to reach new record levels. Total production in Queensland is forecast to reach the second highest on record, despite parts of the Darling Downs missing out on plantings after being impacted by the floods. In other parts of the country, the results are mixed with both flooding and water-logging impacting winter crop production": Jared Greenvillle, ABARES.

Amid extreme market volatility and record-high prices, fertilizer consumption suffered in 2022. According to a new Rabobank report, a recovery in consumption is possible in some regions in 2023, with fertilizer prices lowering and commodity prices at historically high levels.

The whites run when juvenile western rock lobsters undergo a synchronised moult in late spring actually starts in the Two Rocks to Cervantes region before getting underway later in northern areas such as Kalbarri. During the whites run recreational fishers, who need a licence, flock to the Two Rocks marina and other areas so they can head out to check their pots.

Having read the latest comment by Philip Zylstra in the ARR.News journal I was tempted to dismiss it as negligible, and move on. Then I realised that he had denigrated my colleagues, dismissing them as an emotional "lobby group”, and I realised that he must not be allowed to have the last word. To the extent that we are pushing for Australian governments to adopt a bushfire policy and management practices that minimise bushfire damage to the Australian people, to community assets and the environment, then yes, we are lobbyists. But we do so unemotionally, from the basis of science and experience.

Sue Higginson responds to ARR.News questioning of the premise for the Green's introduced Forestry Amendment (Koala Habitats) Bill 2022 ... "All levels of Government agree that our Koalas have declined significantly in recent decades and that they are facing extinction in coming decades if threats to their survival are not stopped ... The legitimacy of the Law article is broadly contested": Sue Higginson, NSW Greens MP.

Technology that will save time and money, provide more accurate data more often, and reduce stress on farmed abalone, is continuing to prove its worth in trials. A multi-disciplinary team at James Cook University (JCU) is testing tools and methodology to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the critical task of counting and measuring abalone in grow-out tanks in aquaculture farms, under an FRDC-funded project.  

The number of banks closed in regional Australia in the six weeks since the Albanese Government quietly released the Coalition’s Regional Banking Taskforce final report is comparable to a dam opening its spillways. The blame for the acceleration – at least 71 branches across all states and territories – can be laid squarely at the feet of the two opposition MPs who led the inquiry, Michael Sukker and Perin Davey, and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, who released the report.

A comprehensive report into the 2019-20 Victorian bushfires highlights the need for a major overhaul of current forest management strategies ... “This report confirms that to avoid future repeats of 2019-20 and protect human life and biodiversity, forest and fire management must be viewed and managed at a landscape scale, with active management over long timeframes, using expert knowledge of forests and their processes”: Forestry Australia Vice President Jim Wilson.

Australian Rural & Regional News followed up with some further questions for Dr Brad Law, NSW DPI Principal Scientist ... "We state that koala occurrence or site occupancy has been stable in hinterland forests of north-east NSW, which is not the same as koala numbers" ... "We don’t have any evidence that koalas are irrupting ..." ... "It does appear to be the case that nutrition is high in epicormic leaves produced after fire, and that koalas rapidly recolonise burnt areas if there is good connectivity with unburnt forest."

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is testing new methods for detecting environmental DNA (eDNA) of varroa mite under the Biosecurity Innovation Program’s Biosecurity molecular screening using eDNA project. A/g Deputy Secretary of Biosecurity and Compliance Peter Timson said eDNA technology is being evaluated as a mobile, rapid, and efficient way to evaluate for pest species on the biosecurity front line.