User Profile

North West Farmer

Check machines for fire risk

FOLLOWING 45 header fires during harvest season in the far north-west of Victoria, fire authorities are reminding grain growers to make machinery maintenance and hygiene a priority. While fires in cropping paddocks during harvest have long been part...

10 Aug 2024

Farming and Environment

Winter planting up with wheat favoured

FARMERS are expected to plant 23.55 million hectares to winter crops this year – up more than 3 per cent on 2023 – despite a mixed start to the season, Rabobank reports in its 2024/25 Australian Winter Crop Outlook. The specialist agribusiness...

13 Jun 2024

Farming and Environment

SunRice backs anti-vesting bill

RICE manufacturers have welcomed the draft legislation that is expected to end statutory rice export marketing, or vesting, by July 2025. Statutory marketing boards act as a single-desk buyer for agricultural products, as well as the...

08 Jun 2024

Farming and Environment

Deposit deadline looms

PRIMARY producers are being encouraged by NAB to mark 28 June as a critical date if they’re considering, or already using, farm management deposits as part of their tax planning this financial year. The FMD scheme is designed to enable...

11 May 2024

News

Plan to strike out blowflies

EVERY sheep producer in north-west Victoria will have their eyes on a project releasing millions of sterile male blowflies on Kangaroo Island to see whether it will suppress the blowfly reproduction rate and population – and by default...

19 Apr 2024

Farming and Environment

Buybacks ‘a risk for grape growers’

MURRAY Valley wine grape growers face “serious economic risks” from water buybacks, Member for Mallee Anne Webster told Federal Parliament this week. “The looming threats of forced exits, water buybacks and widespread vineyard abandonment pose not...

29 Mar 2024

Politics

Biosecurity levy plea

FARMERS are urging politicians to “do the right thing” as debate on the controversial Biosecurity Protection Levy begins in the Senate last week. From July 1, the levy would collect an amount equal to 10 per cent of farmer’s existing industry-led...

29 Mar 2024

Farming and Environment

Rain gives cotton a boost

COTTON growers have an extra spring in their step following recent rain, which is expected to boost crop yields. Cotton Australia general manager Michael Murray said the rain came just at the right time for some dryland cotton growers who otherwise...

16 Dec 2023

Farming and Environment

Growers can fight frost risk

NORTHERN Victorian grain growers have a suite of new resources to help them prepare for late frosts and a potential dry finish to the growing season. Agriculture Victoria has produced a new webpage...

08 Nov 2023

Farming and Environment

Framework for water-take fairness

NEW legislation to further protect water users’ entitlements will come into effect next month. The Place of Take Approvals framework will ensure all entitlement holders will maintain their rights to take water in the rare event that river...

05 Nov 2023

Farming and Environment

Ag workforce grows

AUSTRALIA’s agricultural workforce is steadily growing and changing, as more women and young people join the sector. The ABARES Insights paper, Snapshot of Australia’s Agricultural Workforce, showed the changing state of the agricultural...

04 Nov 2023

Farming and Environment

Get set to net trees

HOME gardeners have been urged to boost their harvest and protect Victoria’s horticulture industry against Queensland fruit fly by netting their fruit trees. Agriculture Victoria state fruit fly co-ordinator Cathy Mansfield said that...

12 Oct 2023