30 Dec 05 | THE DEPARTMENT of Primary Industries has defended itself from claims it was too slow to act against locusts this year. According to Leaghur grower Tony Sawers, there was not enough spraying carried out earlier in the year, because of DPI red t
30 Dec 05 | MEAT and Livestock Australia has angrily hit back at suggestions its research and development funds are being wasted, labelling the Australian Beef Association claims as "ignorant interpretation" and "narrow thinking". In a letter to the edito
30 Dec 05 | PAY A reasonable price or watch paddocks lay fallow. That is the blunt message to Australia's grain marketers from the mayor of a west Victorian municipality. Darryl Argall, mayor of Hindmarsh Shire, situated in the heart of the state's grain
30 Dec 05 | SALEYARDS should operate under a mandatory code of practice to protect animal welfare, according to the RSPCA senior inspector Ken Waixel. Mr Waixel said all saleyards had a voluntary code of practice which outlined a minimum standard at which
30 Dec 05 | Livestock transporters are calling on the rural community to band together to fight proposed hikes in registrations for heavy vehicles. In early February federal, state and territory transport ministers will vote in their capacity as the Austr
30 Dec 05 | BARLEY producers in the south-west have hit an unwelcome snag with the news that GrainCorp's Hamilton site, the major receival point for barley in the region, is virtually full before they have even started harvest. A flood of barley from the
30 Dec 05 | GOOD-BYE and farewell 2005, you have been terrible for wool. In fact it's been the worst year wool has had for about 20 years. Production and demand are at record lows, real wool prices are at a 20-year low for many finer microns and thousa
23 Dec 05 | THE DARK and medullated fibre risk scheme is looking for more processor support. A recent survey of the program and the wool involved with it proved Australian wool was very clean and much less likely to be contaminated than wools from other p
23 Dec 05 | AWB has survived for now a European push to eliminate its monopoly export powers, but a bigger threat may await it within Australia. A concerted diversionary campaign by European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to shift attention away fro
23 Dec 05 | A DISAPPOINTING outcome at last week's World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Hong Kong has left the Australian dairy industry with little to show from years of effort to achieve meaningful trade reform. That means there is plenty to
23 Dec 05 | While Japanese customers tasted their first US beef for nearly two years, this week Australian cattle markets slowed in readiness for the Christmas to new year break. Media sources say about 40 tonnes of US beef passed through Japanese customs
23 Dec 05 | AUSTRALIAN growers are feeling the pinch as rock-bottom grain prices across all commodity sectors hit home. With many regions enjoying their best season yield-wise in several years, growers were upbeat about their prospects coming into harvest
23 Dec 05 | Lamb markets cruised into the Christmas break full of cheer, offering reduced supplies to draw a stronger demand. Numbers at Ballarat on Tuesday fell by almost 10,000, to 28,128 head, as main selling from the central west area drew to a close.
23 Dec 05 | RECONCILING the disparate views of 150 nations, all under immense domestic political pressures, was never going to be easy. And realistically the World Trade Organisation's meeting in Hong Kong over the past fortnight was never going to reach
16 Dec 05 | AWB's single desk export powers have come in for special attention early in proceedings of the World Trade Organisation talks, with Europe claiming the situation is market distorting. But any hope the EU had of convincing the Australian Governmen
16 Dec 05 | AWB'S hold on monopoly wheat exporting rights has been challenged by Western Australian grower-owned organisation CBH, which last week applied for a licence to export 100,000 tonnes of wheat to its Asian flour mills. The move has potentially massi
16 Dec 05 | VICTORIA'S harvest is hitting its straps, with a hectic weekend of activity leading to the biggest week of receivals so far. And with good weather forecast north of the Divide for the rest of the week, bulk handler GrainCorp is forecasting this we
16 Dec 05 | COMMENT By PETER J AUSTIN COMPETITION between milk processors for the hearts and minds of Victorian dairy farm suppliers has erupted into a public spat between the country's two largest milk processors. Bonlac Supply Company chairman Noel C
16 Dec 05 | AMID the wrangling and political manoeuvering surrounding the controversy over malt barley prices one point of consensus has emerged - the price slump is largely due to the sizeable domestic harvest. Producers have quickly seen the gloss come
16 Dec 05 | United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Doug Chant has expressed concern about the proposal that would require all bobby calves to be fitted with national livestock identification system electronic tags. He said the UDV full supported traceabili
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