A new storage facility has been opened in northern Victoria for fodder donations to Lions Need for Feed. Purpose-built on the JBS Australia meat processing facility at Cobram, it complements storage on a Need for Feed member’s farm in the Albury district. Need for Feed coordinator Graham Cockerell said the 2ha site, which opened in September, would make it easier to store and coordinate delivery of fodder, dog food and other donations into disaster areas. But the current economic conditions and tight hay market has seen fodder donations drop by 30 per cent and financial donations drop by 50 p ..read more

Australian beekeepers can expect significant colony losses as the country’s bee industry transitions from an eradication approach to varroa mite to a management strategy, in the wake of several outbreaks in NSW this year. A nationwide effort to eradicate the pest in NSW since its first detection near Newcastle in June, 2022 has cost $100 million and involved the euthanasing of more than 30,000 hives. Scientific data and advice suggested a strategy of eradication was no longer possible due to limited resources and a sharp increase in recent detections thought to be caused by non-compliance of ..read more

Inside the Old Errowanbang Woolshed, the names of three 1907 Melbourne Cup runners are written in fine cursive on a wooden beam. The looping handwriting is just visible 116 years later, listing Dyed Garments first, followed by Poseidon and Mountain King. The shearer who recorded his Cup picks more than a century ago missed out on a trifecta, with only Mountain King finishing in the top three. It is one of many moments frozen in time inside the heritage-listed woolshed, built into the curves of a hill near Carcoar, in central-west NSW, in 1886. A dusty pair of shearer’s felt moccasins sit on a ..read more

Running a beautiful, bespoke boutique flower and florist business on the Scenic Rim at Kalbar in Queensland has been a dream come true for Rachel Watkins, although the dream does come with a rather hefty dose of hard work, she told SOPHIE BALDWIN. Not that Rachel minds. She has always loved getting outside and growing flowers is a passion she has only recently been able to pursue, after COVID-19 forced Rachel and her husband Fred out of a horse business they had been involved in for 22 years. ‘’I have always loved flowers and I thought it was time to do something for myself, and here we are w ..read more

Any battle needs a good map room and the fight taken up by the locals of the Upper King Parrot Creek Valley to control blackberries has a headquarters, and a plan of attack, that is more than well under way, as ANDY WILSON discovered. That map details the success of this small Victorian community’s efforts in controlling the invasive plant. Land already conquered includes the view upstream from Upper King Parrot Rd, an area which has long had its blackberries removed and fences repaired to keep cattle from the precious riparian zone. That section of river is now a thriving forest of black wat ..read more

A government grant has been awarded to Victoria’s leading rabbit control group to further its work with farmers in rabbit management. ANDY WILSON reports. The Victorian Rabbit Action Network has received $40,000 from Agriculture Victoria to employ a facilitator to coordinate field days with landholders. VRAN community representative Neil Devanny said the group’s outreach via ‘boot camps’ was designed to enable a community to undertake its own delivery program. “VRAN operates with some fantastic people doing some fantastic work, but we need someone to provide that facilitator role to help VRAN ..read more

A special grant has given the All About Alpacas Project a definite boost. In the vast expanse of Australia’s agricultural landscape, growth and innovation are the bedrock of a sustainable future. The AgriFutures Australia Emerging Industries Business Innovation Grant has provided a beacon of opportunity for budding industries hoping to foster education, awareness and career opportunities. Among the many constructive ventures kindled by this grant is the All About Alpacas Project — an initiative that not only showcases the potential of emerging industries, but also shapes the choices of aspirin ..read more

It didn’t take Guy Treweek long to realise he wanted to be in white meat sheep, but he decided his White Suffolks faded into the shadows when faced with the dazzling arrival of the (drum roll please) UltraWhite. The Wakool stud breeder might have gone for the whitest of whites, but they are also earning him a lot of very broad, blue ribbons on the show circuit. ANDREW MOLE reports. Guy Treweek might have seen his UltraWhite sheep as an “expensive hobby”, but he’s sent a clear message to the industry that there’s a new force in the market for meat sheep. His Induro White Suffolk stud, based at ..read more

It’s known far and wide as the avocado. But what, exactly, is it? A nut? No, although that big pit in the middle might make you think otherwise. A vegie? Wrong again. A lot of people still argue it is, in the US it is classified as one in most areas. But truth be told, it’s a fruit, because it’s the product of a plant’s mature flower and it has a seed. And folks, that’s the definition of a fruit, says ANDREW MOLE. Tim and Katrina Myers have been high-profile avocado growers on the Murray River through thick and thin. That’s through droughts, floods, pandemics, global financial crises, good c ..read more

Rocket Seeder has taken on its third group of agriculture-based start-up entrepreneurs, and ANDY WILSON spoke to the brains behind two of the 14 new projects. Directly linking herb growers to retailers and customers in real time may not seem like a priority in the herb industry, due to the widely accepted seasonal and cyclical nature of their product’s cultivation. However, Naomi Ingleton sees the need as something necessary to enhance herb production in Australia. “I’m creating a platform for medicinal and culinary herb growers to be able to find a path to market for their produce,” Naomi sai ..read more