It is not that long ago that the ‘Black Summer’ bushfires led to serious issues in our nation’s winegrape industry. In 2020, bushfires resulted in tens of thousands of tonnes of Australian wine grapes being lost to smoke taint. While some growers managed to dodge the...
Incentivising investment key to addressing shortages
Availability of adequate housing for regional workers continues to be a major challenge to the agricultural sector, particularly at peak times such as vintage and harvest. The COVID pandemic has exacerbated the ongoing issue around adequate housing stocks in regional...
Long-term flood recovery support crucial
The peak of the River Murray flood has hit, restrictions on activities along the river are easing and now the long, hard road to recovery begins in earnest. It has been pleasing to see the immediate response from government and other organisations but a long-term...
Year ahead: Agriculture faces another challenging year
Surging input costs, global supply chain issues, floods and an extended wet season meant another challenging year for South Australian farmers. Looking at the positives, almost all sectors of primary industry were buoyed by the promise of a record season coming into...
Strong stewardship can avoid disaster
Going into the height of summer and plenty of spraying needing to be done due to the wet season and heavy vegetation loads, the issue of spray drift needs to be front and centre in farmers’ minds. As Grain Producers SA has highlighted with their recently launched...
Revamped fund offers valuable support to regional students
Stock Journal readers may remember the E.W. Stevens Trust Fund. The EW Stevens Trust was established in 1988 following a bequest to the-then United Farmers and Stock Owners of SA Inc. Management of this fund was later transferred to the South Australian Farmers’...
Sustainability debate needs good balance
Australian Farm Institute’s (AFI) recent roundtable event explored the thorny topic of ESG – investor shorthand to value an industry or company’s performance on environmental, social, and corporate governance metrics – and how it relates to agriculture. In feeding the...
Recipe for averting disaster
THE role of leadership in driving change to address the safety risk of sexual harassment in farm workplaces was featured in the agenda of this year’s FarmSafe Australia National Conference, aptly themed ‘Recipe for Averting Disaster’. I was given the task of chairing...
Biosecurity: The case for investment
Protecting South Australian livestock and crops from exotic pests and diseases is essential to primary production, both supporting on-farm productivity and helping to underpin our international competitiveness in the trade of agricultural goods. Given the importance...
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