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30 Sep 2008 | Sugar dairy and beef to win under trade deal
The World Trade Organisation''s Doha round of free trade talks is not dead with trade ministers expected to meet again before the end of 2008 to finalise an agreement said the Australian trade minister Simon Crean. ...... FULL STORY
30 Sep 2008 | Investment schemes damage markets
Managed investment schemes in the horticultural and farm sectors distort markets, do not promote sound investment decisions and inflate the price of farming land says the National Farmers Federation. ...... FULL STORY
29 Sep 2008 | More free range chooks needed
Free range egg farmers need to double the number of laying birds to meet demand for free range eggs. Half of all eggs sold as free range are falsely labelled says the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association. ...... FULL STORY
29 Sep 2008 | Farmers go further into debt
Average farm debt has risen to about $420,000 per farm according to the latest figures from ABARE. Increasing land values have allowed most broad acre farmers to maintain more than 85 per cent equity in their properties. ...... FULL STORY
26 Sep 2008 | Horse flu returns to haunt industry
Voluntary vaccination of horses for equine influenza could be counterproductive because the horses could still carry and spread the disease said Victoria''s chief veterinarian. ...... FULL STORY
26 Sep 2008 | Queensland beef looking good
The outlook for the beef market is good due to higher prices and a lower Australian dollar says AACo, Australia''s largest beef producer. Supplies from China, Russia, the US and Brazil are expected to decline. ...... FULL STORY
26 Sep 2008 | Quarantine says don''t call us
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service is understaffed, forcing long delays onto importers of plant and animal products. ...... FULL STORY
25 Sep 2008 | Free range definition needed
Free range poultry systems encourage cannibalism amongst the birds says the Australian Egg Corporation. The AEC says poultry are territorial and seek out the weakest among them. ...... FULL STORY
25 Sep 2008 | Private saleyards expected to raise fees
Livestock selling fees are expected to increase by up to 100 per cent as councils across south east Australia privatise saleyards. ...... FULL STORY
24 Sep 2008 | Dry September kills hopes for winter grain crop
Heavy rains are expected in south east Australia in the second half of October said the Bureau of Meteorology. An extremely dry September has dashed hopes for a record grain crop said the Victorian Farmers Federation. ...... FULL STORY
24 Sep 2008 | Pipeline will take water from farmers to city
Farmers and the country lobby group Plug the Pipe have joined a growing controversy about the Victorian opposition''s changing policy position on the Sugarloaf water pipeline that will take water from the north of the state to Melbourne. ...... FULL STORY
24 Sep 2008 | Carbon plan will kill rural communities
Liberal, National Party and Greens senators have urged the government to rethink a plan to encourage the planting of forests as carbon sinks. ...... FULL STORY
23 Sep 2008 | Private weather services get it wrong
Private weather forecasting services overstated the strength of winds and storms in NSW and created unnecessary alarm say the Bureau of Meteorology. ...... FULL STORY
23 Sep 2008 | Queensland growers benefit from ethanol mandates
One biofuel plant in NSW has been closed and plans to build more have been delayed *or* abandoned. The NSW government said it would not proceed with plans to introduce a mandated level of ethanol in petrol sold at retail service stations in NSW. ...... FULL STORY
22 Sep 2008 | Farmers sit idle on drought welfare
Farmers who take jobs outside the farm to supplement their family income are ineligible for drought relief payments whilst wealthy farmers collect welfare payments under the current drought relief scheme. ...... FULL STORY
22 Sep 2008 | Internet threatens agri shows
The Royal Melbourne Show and most other agricultural shows in regional areas are suffering from declining entrants. ...... FULL STORY
19 Sep 2008 | Grain handlers warn farmers about silos
Grain handling companies fear their storage facilities and even the rail lines that connect to them may have to close if the boom in on-farm storages continues. ...... FULL STORY
19 Sep 2008 | Agribusiness outperforms markets
Agribusiness shares were flat during September, despite ASX200 losing 1.7 per cent. Commonwealth Bank said the agribusiness sector generated returns of 11.7 per cent compared with minus 17.6 per cent of the ASX200. ...... FULL STORY
19 Sep 2008 | Farmers and politicians exploit drought funding
Exceptional circumstances drought funding gives farmers a loophole that allows them to exaggerate their circumstances says a submission from the Australian National University to the Productivity Commission. ...... FULL STORY
18 Sep 2008 | Pineapples in demand
Pineapple producer Bethonga Whole Foods said it aims to send one million trays of its Bethonga Gold pineapples to market by 2012. The number of contracted Bethonga Gold growers will rise from 10 to 13. ...... FULL STORY
18 Sep 2008 | MDBC purchases Nulla Station
The Murray Darling Basin Commission said it purchased Nulla Station on Lake Victoria, near the South Australian border. The MDBC said it would use the 48,000 hectare property to better manage Lake Victoria. ...... FULL STORY
18 Sep 2008 | Climate change reducing land productivity
Almost half of agricultural businesses surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics said their lead management practices changed in response to perceived changes in climate. More than 90 per cent said rainfall patterns changed. ...... FULL STORY
17 Sep 2008 | Crop forecast revised down
Australia''s winter grains production is forecast to be around 35 million tonnes in 2008-09, close to 13 million tonnes more than the drought affected 2007-08 harvest. ...... FULL STORY
16 Sep 2008 | Grain exporters sign up to rail
ABB grain will soon sign a rail transport agreement with rail-freight operator Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA) to move grain in South Australia. ...... FULL STORY
16 Sep 2008 | AWB raises wheat returns
Estimated pool returns for most wheat grades in the 2007/2008 number one national pool have been raised by two dollars per tonne to $420 due to currency and hedging activities said AWB. ...... FULL STORY
16 Sep 2008 | Silos in demand as growers wait for rain
More grain farmers are investing in on-farm storage units than ever before as fears grow that infrastructure will not be able to cope with a deregulated market with no floor price guaranteed by AWB. ...... FULL STORY
15 Sep 2008 | Significant decline in sugar profitability
The combined effects of a 25 per cent fall in sugar cane prices and higher costs for farm inputs, such as fertilisers, fuel and contractors services, have led to a decline in profitability of sugar cane in 2007-08 says ABARE. ...... FULL STORY
15 Sep 2008 | Higher prices deliver for dairy farmers
Financial performance of Australian dairy producers improved in 2007-08 in the wake of higher milk prices according to a new ABARE report. ...... FULL STORY
12 Sep 2008 | Queensland releases water
Queensland premier Anna Bligh said yesterday that the Queensland government had decided to gift 11 billion litres of water in the Darling system to the commonwealth for environmental purposes. ...... FULL STORY
12 Sep 2008 | Swift driving down beef cattle prices
Australia''s largest meat processor, Swift Australia, which is owned by the Brazilian-based JBS Fribois is forcing down domestic cattle prices says Nick Burton Taylor, the former chairman of the Australian Agricultural Company. ...... FULL STORY
12 Sep 2008 | AWB back in the export business
AWB Australia and AWB Harvest Finance have been granted the right to export bulk wheat by the Wheat Export Authority. Thirteen companies are now registered with the WEA to export bulk wheat shipments from Australia. ...... FULL STORY
11 Sep 2008 | Cotton farm buyback to benefit rivers
The state of NSW has paid $23.75 million, with commonwealth assistance, for the Toorale cotton station in northwest NSW, in a move that will boost flows in the Murray-Darling Basin by up to 80 gigalitres a year. ...... FULL STORY
10 Sep 2008 | Ham buyers pay for water
More than one third of all packaged ham sold in supermarkets contains twenty per cent *or* more water according to tests carried out by a consumer group. Woolworths Deli Leg ham has the least amount of meat and the most water said Choice. ...... FULL STORY
10 Sep 2008 | CSIRO says we can save the rivers
There is enough water in the Murray Darling river system to save the Lower Lakes in South Australia, a CSIRO scientist told a Senate committee yesterday. ...... FULL STORY
10 Sep 2008 | Government vegie grants misdirected
Industry group Horticulture Australia Limited misdirected vegetable levy funds a government review has found. ...... FULL STORY
9 Sep 2008 | Returns may improve for wine producers
Australian Brandy and Wine Corp said domestic and export markets were stabilising after a difficult year. The decline in the exchange rate over recent weeks meant producers were in a better position to fend off competition. ...... FULL STORY
9 Sep 2008 | Painless mulesing almost here
Two painless injectable solutions to the mulesing issue are currently close to being commercialised. The two new methods could help the wool industry meet its pledge to animal rights campaigners to end surgical mulesing by 2010. ...... FULL STORY
8 Sep 2008 | Murray needs downsizing
The Murray Darling River system needs to be downsized with some important irrigation and wetland areas cut off from the main river flows says Australia''s leading water economist Professor Mike Young. ...... FULL STORY
8 Sep 2008 | AWB still out in the cold
The Wheat Export Authority has granted export licenses to another six companies, taking the total accredited for wheat export to 11 so far. Industry experts expect that number to climb to about 20 within weeks. ...... FULL STORY
8 Sep 2008 | Fertiliser maker defends imports from war zone
Incitec Pivot shareholders have approved a 20 for 1 share split that will create 1.2 billion shares out of the existing 60 million. Shareholders also approved resolutions to combine Dyno Nobel assets with those of the parent company. ...... FULL STORY
8 Sep 2008 | Fewer canegrowers produce same sugar
Sugar farm cash incomes fell in 2007-2008 to around $7,000 per farm. 700 farmers took advantage of federal financial incentives to leave the industry by July 2007. The number of cane growers fell from 4,818 in 2005-06 to 4,138 in 2007. ...... FULL STORY
5 Sep 2008 | Environment misses out as rivers dry up
A record low of just 3450 gigalitres flowed into the Murray Darling system in the two years to the 1st of September. Just 275 gigalitres flowed into the system in August, less than one fifth of the long term average of 1550 gigalitres. ...... FULL STORY
5 Sep 2008 | Senate finds mutton dressed as lamb
Substitution of mutton for lamb is a legitimate concern but not widespread in the Australian meat industry says a report from the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport committee. ...... FULL STORY
4 Sep 2008 | Rice production won''t recover
The NSW Rice Marketing Board said "the potential for full recovery was zero". ...... FULL STORY
4 Sep 2008 | Still no water for northern irrigators
There is still insufficient water in storages in the Goulburn Valley and central Murray to allow the initial seasonal allocation of any water to irrigators in northern Victoria. ...... FULL STORY
4 Sep 2008 | Wheat growers lose special status at AWB
Wheat growers and shareholders in AWB finally voted to scrap the former wheat export monopoly''s shareholding structure that gave 18,000 wheat growers greater influence over the company. ...... FULL STORY
4 Sep 2008 | Higher prices boost dairy farm incomes
Financial performance of Australian dairy producers improved in 2007-08 in the wake of higher milk prices according to a new ABARE report. ...... FULL STORY
3 Sep 2008 | Trees worth more than wood
The proposed emissions trading scheme could result in forestry plantations being left in the ground and loggers turning to old growth forests instead. ...... FULL STORY
3 Sep 2008 | Rate cut saves farmers
The latest interest rate cut of 0.25 per cent announced yesterday by the Reserve Bank of Australia will save the average farmer $800 to $1,000 per year. ...... FULL STORY
2 Sep 2008 | Rain raises hopes for summer
Good rain across the wheat belt has raised expectations of a good summer wheat crop. Growing regions from WA right across to the eastern states have received drenching downfalls in the last week and over the weekend. ...... FULL STORY
1 Sep 2008 | Food prices still too high says UN
Food and commodity prices have eased since the UN called a summit to discuss the crisis in high food prices in June. ...... FULL STORY
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