Research

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry recently announced the delivery of an $8 million grant program to support industry to scale up production of Asparagopsis, the red seaweed known for its significant methane-reducing qualities when fed to livestock. ARR.News asked Professor Catriona Macleod, ASSA Chair, for an update on the state of industry in Australia.

The surge in usage of ‘GLP-1’-style weight loss medications is seeing a "ripple effect" begin to unfold, impacting eating patterns in a number of countries around the world, Rabobank says in recently-released research.

Seasonal legal and illegal labour migration in agriculture compete with each other despite serving the same goals. These goals are increasing food availability and agricultural efficiency. This competition arises because villagers and politicians prefer different paths to achieving these goals. These different paths magnify the impact of seasonal labour migration.

The National Schools Food and Fibre Education Strategy was launched today, marking an unprecedented collaboration between 15 rural research and development corporations to transform how Australian students learn about the nation’s $80 billion food and fibre sector.

Cattle producers in Northern Australia face unique challenges when adapting tools like virtual fences on their properties, but new research from Charles Darwin University (CDU) is set to break down the barriers to this technology. Virtual fences remotely map and control livestock such as cows by fitting the animal with a GPS collar that delivers audio cues and electric pulses to the animal if they approach a pre-set boundary.  

Australia's wild crocodile population has become part of the country's livestock industry. Continued development of the industry requires raising crocodile eggs on farms, rather than collecting wild crocodile eggs in the jungle. This is driving the development of crocodile farms in Queensland and Western Australia.

An $8 million grant program has supported industry to scale up production of the methane-inhibiting seaweed, Asparagopsis. Methane from livestock digestion accounts for about 71 per cent of Australia’s agricultural emissions and 13 per cent of Australia’s total emissions, according to the latest National Inventory Report.

Young people living in the Murray–Darling Basin are calling for a stronger voice in shaping responses to environmental change. A Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program (MD–WERP) study led by Griffith University has found that young people aged 16–25 are increasingly concerned about the impact of a changing climate on their futures...

A new Federation University study has revealed farmers and communities are buckling under the mental health strain posed by energy and mining developments in the Wimmera and Southern Mallee regions ... “Tragically an Australian farmer dies by suicide every 10 days. That’s more than twice the rate of other working Australians.”

Australia's export-oriented crocodile industry depends on public opinion in foreign countries and the actions of legislators in those countries. This is the industry's primary problem. Two secondary problems arise from this. Australia's crocodile industry has too little economic potential, and lobbying regulations in Australia are too imperfect for Australian farmers to quickly follow global trends.

A single atom of silver working in synergy with carbon and nitrogen atoms can efficiently convert polluting nitrogenous waste in water from industries such as agriculture and mining into ready-to-use liquid fertiliser.

Global beef trade is poised for growth over the next five years, driven by increasing demand from Asia and export expansions by South American countries, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank.

Two Allora families have returned from a successful 11 day cycling adventure through France and the UK. Mark Mason and James Turner completed the 1200km ride from Lourdes France to Lords Cricket Ground in London to raise funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes research.

The latest national koala population estimates from CSIRO’s National Koala Monitoring Program (NKMP) have revealed a staggering leap in koala numbers that upends years of alarmism. The 2025 CSIRO report estimates the listed population between 398,000 and 569,000, a dramatic rise from the 2024 estimate of just 95,000 to 238,000.  

The 2024 - 2025 Blue Economy CRC Annual Report is now available. As we enter the final half of our 10-year journey, our measure of success is no longer knowledge generation alone, but how that knowledge is applied and adopted.  

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has stated that tackling regional worker shortages is the key to unlocking productivity growth in Australian agriculture. In a recent report, the NFF stated that more planning is needed to safeguard the sector’s future.

Confidence in Australia’s farming sector has lifted, as the nation’s farmers hang their hopes on continuing strong commodity prices – particularly in livestock sectors – and better seasonal conditions in a number of regions, the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey has found.

University of South Australia and Kangaroo Island Research Station ecologists have made a remarkable discovery about the mysterious and endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart: it is partial to climbing trees ... “The last thing I expected to find in one of our pygmy-possum nest boxes some distance up in a mallee eucalypt was a dunnart.  It was a wonderful surprise,” says Peter Hammond.

Australian livestock producers have been facing an unprecedented period of market volatility over recent years, with swings in cattle and sheep prices reaching record extremes, Rabobank says in new research. In the report Managing increased volatility in Australian livestock markets … volatility has long been a feature of livestock markets, both the scale and frequency of price swings have intensified significantly over the past five to 10 years.

North west Victoria hosted some of the nation's leading agricultural researchers last week when 17 senior CSIRO scientists visited Birchip for a three-day think tank with the Birchip Cropping Group (BCG) focused on driving the next wave of innovation in broadacre farming.

Animal cloning never became a popular or profitable business. However, this industry has made human cloning a reality. For better or worse, all that remains is to legalise it. The first animals that were cloned in Australia were a sheep named Matilda ...