AgLife - May 2023 Edition

Hands-on experience

Longerenong College is opening its gates to school students across the Wimmera through a ‘Come-and- try agriculture at Longy’ initiative. Horsham Special School students were the first to attend the college as part of the program. Horsham Special School student Jay Jay Nitschke and Longerenong College first-year student Bonnie Lunn got to work in the shearing shed together as part of the experience.

Story, page 27. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Leading scientist calls time on career

BY ABBY WALTER

Afamiliar face at Agriculture

Victoria’s Grains Innovation Park in Horsham is continuing to support the future of agricultural science despite his retirement.

Joe Panozzo was a researcher for more than 40 years with Agriculture

Victoria and after supervising 11 PhD students at Horsham, continues a supervisor role in his honorary position with the University of Melbourne.

Dr Panozzo studied a science degree and majored in biochemistry.

“After I graduated, I was successful in applying for the job at Horsham and started in the early 1980s,” he said.

“I then did a PhD with the University of NSW, looking at the effects of heat stress on wheat, how it changed the protein composition within the wheat, what the effect of that heat stress was on the processing quality and whether the wheat retained its designated market value or if it gets downgraded.

“Once I had that degree, it gave me a broad set of skills and I was able to

came up in Horsham and I was successful,” he said.

“Horsham is a great place to bring up a family. It’s a safe environment, there are excellent schools and sporting facilities and good career opportunities.

“One of the things I miss is autumn in Horsham, because the mornings are cold and there might be frost but then there’s a clear blue sky and it’s fantastic.”

Dr Panozzo’s first role was testing wheat for quality traits.

“As my career developed, I also took on the role of testing barley for malting quality traits for beer, canola for oil composition and then later pulses for cooking quality and splitting,” he said.

“When I first started, the lab was quite small – there were only about three people there.

“Over time, the person running it retired, we expanded and I led a group that was, at its peak, about 23 people working on different projects associated with crop improvement.

for ‘outstanding scientific achievement and contribution to knowledge in the field of grain science’.

Agriculture Victoria research head Simone Warner said Dr Panozzo was

career had been new and different. “I also enjoyed working in agriculture science because I could see the practical outcomes,” he said.

“It was always about either improv

I would estimate there were probably 30 scientists.

“Some did PhDs, others obtained experience and worked in other organisations and some stayed on and have been there for 20-plus years.”

Along with an honorary position with the University of Melbourne, Dr Panozzo has positions with Charles Sturt University and Monash University.

He said he continued to supervise PhD students who were working on different aspects of agriculture science during his retirement, which was another element of his work he enjoyed.

“Everybody has to retire at some point, but there’s probably never been a better time to be working in agriculture or working in science,” he said. “The advancements in technology are so great, which allows information to be captured quicker and data to be used in many ways.

“The next generation of artificial intelligence, AI, will use that data to

END OF AN ERA: Renowned Agriculture Victoria researcher Joe Panozzo has called time on his career at Horsham’s Grains Innovation Park after contributing more than 40 years to agriculture science.

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Wallace ready to judge at worlds

BY ABBY WALTER

Astalwart of Horsham and Natimuk show shearing pavilions is adding a significant honour to his sports shear judging resume.

Horsham’s Daryl Wallace is travelling to Scotland to represent Australia in judging at the 2023 Golden Shears World Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Championships.

A total of 31 countries from across the world, including Australia, will gather at the Royal Highland Show in Scotland from June 22 to 25.

Mr Wallace said he had judged show shearing at national and state levels.

“I have been involved with three national events and ran the judging for the most recent event,” he said.

“For the world event, each state nominates judges, shearers and wool handlers and they are voted on at a national meeting, so I was Victoria’s nomination and was selected from there.”

The championships occur every two to three years.

The most recent championship was in 2017. Australian Shannon Warnest won the championship, hosted in Toowoomba, Queensland.

The 2023 Australian team comprises machine shearing representatives Daniel McIntyre and Nathan Meaney, blade shearing representatives Andrew Murray and John Dalla and wool

handling representatives Mark Purcell and Racheal Hutchinson.

Mr Wallace, wool handling judge Matt Stasinowsky and team manager Tom Kelly will join them.

Mr Wallace said he was looking forward to the experience.

“Competitors may go to worlds more than once if they remain at the peak of the Australian competition, but this will be my first time,” he said.

“It’s going to be five days of hectic shearing with an individual event before the world teams event.

“We also send a delegate to the world conference that is on while we are there, to work out any rule amendments and decide where the next event will be.

“There are also workshops to attend, registrations and a gala dinner, so I will be in Scotland from June 18.”

“Competitors may go to worlds more than once if they remain at the peak of the Australian competition, but this will be my first time”

– Daryl Wallace

how many will be there from each. I know it’s going to be a real eye-opener and a show of the best of the best.

“It’s going to be interesting to see the different breeds of sheep, too, in the UK.

“I’m looking forward to the African contingent in the blade shearing because they are recognised as the best in the world, so it will be interesting to see.”

Mr Wallace said he has been involved in show shearing for about 30 years.

Mr Wallace said it was a ‘massive’ program.

“Last time the event was on, I was told the shearing started at 7am and finished at midnight,” he said.

“We judge on time, how well the sheep is shorn and what the wool looks like.

“Each country can send up to two competitors and one judge for the categories, but it depends on the country

“I think I have only missed one Natimuk Show, either shearing or judging, since 1993 and it would be about the same for the Horsham Show,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a hobby. I judge locally from Edenhope to Donald, St Arnaud, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Beaufort and at other shows as well.

“I enjoy seeing good people come up through the industry as learners and then go on to represent their state or country.”

Did you know we also do windscreens for buses, trucks and farm machinery!

NEXT LEVEL: Horsham’s Daryl Wallace is part of an Australian judging team bound for Scotland for the 2023 Golden Shears World Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Championships in June. Picture: ABBY WALTER

Introduction to careers in agriculture

BY SEAN O’CONNELL

Students

from across the region have an opportunity to sample the wide array of jobs in agriculture under a new initiative.

Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN, in partnership with Longerenong College, successfully applied for funding through the Victorian Department of Education’s Secondary School Agricultural Fund to launch the project.

‘Come and try agriculture @ Longy’ aims to increase awareness among secondary school students of the different careers available in agriculture.

Head of campus Avril Hogan said the college was ‘excited’ to host secondary school students and help them learn more about careers in agriculture.

Horsham Special School students were the first to take up the ‘hands-on’ learning experience.

“We’re really happy to have Horsham Special School here,” Ms Hogan said.

“We have been showing students some of the different jobs available and getting them excited about what happens in our region with agriculture.”

Ms Hogan said Horsham Special School’s visit was for a single day, but experiences could be extended across multiple day camps.

On track

New accommodation facilities at Longerenong College will be fully operational by the end of the year, ready for more students in 2024.

Longerenong College head of campus Avril Hogan said the construction was on track as planned.

“Hopefully, we will have the two, seven-bedroom units done and ready to be occupied in July. The whole facility will be finished by December,” she said.

The upgrade includes three seven-bedroom units and three four-bedroom units.

“If anybody wants to book it out, they can – it gives us the capacity for more students and more trade blocks, reunions, events and conferences,” Ms Hogan said.

“Locks Construction is our builder and has done a great job.”

“We are showing students a little bit about wool classing and wool pressing and they are watching our current students at our shearing school,” she said.

“We are going to do a livestock identification class in the feed lodge, showing the different kinds of cattle we have.”

Ms Hogan said the day also involved

a visit to the data farm and an agronomy exercise.

“It’s a taster for these students to understand that agriculture is not just driving tractors – there are drones, technology, wool, livestock, animal health and nutrition,” she said.

“For students that might want to be vets but can’t get into veterinary medicine, they can come here and learn

about livestock and be a livestock adviser and be out in paddocks and working with animals – it’s just letting them understand what is available.

Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN executive officer Tim Shaw said his organisation had received strong interest from schools wanting to be involved.

Mr Shaw said the program would

immerse students in an engaging selection of ‘hands-on’ agricultural and STEM activities at Longerenong College and industry partners.

He said encouraging students to consider careers in agriculture would help meet a skills shortage in the industry.

“The aim is to increase awareness of the broad range of careers in agriculture,” he said.

Mr Shaw said the immersive activities would be delivered in a series of camps lasting between one and five days.

He said during camps that lasted multiple days, students would stay on site to get the full Longerenong College experience.

Mr Shaw said it was estimated 154 students would be involved in visits and camps at Longerenong College, aided by the funding.

There are 252 students from seven schools booked to attend, with further opportunities to be provided next year.

Mr Shaw said the initiative was a great opportunity to learn about the many avenues that a career in agriculture could lead to.

“Agriculture is not just about farming,” he said.

The project is funded until March 30, 2024.

Work ready

Longerenong College staff are proud of the 2022 graduating class members who have successfully entered into the agriculture industry workforce.

The class celebrated its graduation at Horsham Town Hall earlier this year, after completing their studies in December.

Longerenong College head of campus

Avril Hogan said all graduates, who were not returning to family farms, ended up with multiple job offers.

“More and more of our graduates are looking for jobs in agriculture or agribusiness because not all of them are from farms,” she said.

Michelle

December.

discuss the progress

“This most recent graduating year was a great success as so many students took interesting jobs across the country. Graduating was a real testament to these students because they studied through COVID years, so the fact they worked hard and received their qualifications was fantastic.”

HANDS-ON: Horsham Special School students, from left, Samara Murray, Aaron Tanner and Kai Skinner at Longerenong College.

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

EXPANDING: Locks Construction site foreman Adam Spasic and Longerenong College student liaison officer

Trigg

of the college’s new accommodation project, due to be completed in

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Six shearers set for challenge

BY ABBY WALTER Preparations

for the third instalment of the ‘24hour shear madness’ event are underway as six Victorian shearers plan to raise money by shearing for 24 hours straight.

This year the shearing team will be raising money for LETS TALK, which advocates for the need to discuss mental health and break the stigma of seeking support.

The first ever Shear Madness ‘Shear-a-thon’ was in 2018 with shearer Roger Mifsud and his son Corey, of Stawell, shearing 1542 sheep to raise awareness and funds for muscular dystrophy.

A total of $45,000 was raised and shared between the Gillian Boys Foundation and Save Our Sons Duchenne Foundation.

In 2021, the shearers were back at it again, this time with brother Brody joining the team. Together, the three Mifsuds set out to beat the previous event’s tallies, shearing 2822 sheep and raising $78,252 for Merri River School in Warrnambool, Skene Street School in Stawell and programs for carers of children with special needs.

The fundraiser was in honour of Corey’s son Levi, who has autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD.

This year Josh and Brandon Bone, of Nhill, and Phil Edwards, of southwest Victoria, will join the Mifsuds on the stand for 24 hours on December 8 and 9.

Volunteers

Shear Madness committee member Brooke Siegle said the team was aiming to raise $100,000 for LETS TALK.

“We have a crew of 35 people, who are all volunteers, doing everything from selling raffle tickets to pushing the sheep up, and everything we use is donated,” she said.

“We use the Warrnambool Showground shearing pavilion and have the event plus a goods and services auction and raffles.

“We are in discussions about having it live-streamed again.

“We are shearing the same sheep as last year and the farmer will pay the shearers, like any contractor.

“One of the roustabouts buys and sells wool, so she will sell it and donate the money back to the cause.”

Ms Siegle said Josh and Roger would start the shear-a-thon

like an eight-hour workday and aimed to shear 400 sheep in that time.

“While the two shearers are going for eight hours, the other four shearers will be rotating on a third stand every half hour,” she said.

“Once the eight hours are finished, the shearers will work in teams of two and rotate on the three stands. At the very end, they will all get up there with the roustabouts to finish with a bang.”

This year the organisers are also planning ‘meet and greet’ events before the shear-a-thon, to allow sponsors and the community to meet the shearers and the wider team. The events will also be an opportunity to learn more about LETS TALK and the work the foundation does.

Ms Siegle said people and businesses interested in sponsoring or supporting the event could contact the team at 24hrshearmadness@gmail.com

“It’s going to be a big weekend and the team is working hard to make sure the shearers will be able to get up there and shear for 24 hours,” she said.

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HARD AT IT: Brody Mifsud shears at the second ‘24-hour shear madness’ event with his father Roger and brother Corey. The trio, along with three more shearers, are gearing up for a third shear-a-thon at the end of this year.

Learning hub for producers

A one-stop shop for grazing land management information is now available for red meat and livestock producers on the Meat and Livestock Australia website.

Meat and Livestock Australia program manager, adoption, Sally Leigo said the Grazing Land Management hub contained tools, resources and training opportunities to help red meat producers measure available pasture against animal demand, explore improved pasture options, or identify and manage weeds for grazing businesses across Australia.

“This new hub is a one-stop shop for producers looking to learn how to do a feed budget on their property, how to manage weeds and weigh up options to improve pasture production,” she said.

“The hub directs producers to available online tools, fact sheets, events, training courses and eLearning modules to enable practical decision-making with the latest research recommendations.”

Producers can sign up to be a member or check their membership status at www.mla. com.au/membership and access the hub at www.mla.com. au/grazing

Picture: KRISTY CRAWLEY

Preparing for next season

BY ABBY WALTER

Following a bumper season, Brown’s Gypsum at Rainbow is expanding its storage capacity with a new shed.

Hindmarsh Shire Council granted the gypsum mining company a permit to build earlier this month.

The new storage shed will be 72 metres long by 24 metres wide and 7.5 metres high.

Brown’s Gypsum representative Carlie Ryan said the storage shed would keep gypsum dry during the season.

“Gypsum cannot be crushed, loaded or spread when it is wet,” she said.

“We plan to start construction in the next few weeks now that the season has ended. We are making sure there is plenty of space to store as much as we can.

“The shed will make a huge difference to be able to keep the gypsum dry on any wet days and during winter months.”

The permit was applied for in October and put on public notice in February. There were no objections. A mining permit was granted for the site in January 2020.

Aiden wins apprentice of the year

A Horsham engineering apprentice has won two major accolades at SuniTAFE graduation and awards.

“We are making sure there is plenty of space to store as much as we can”

– Carlie Ryan

Ms Ryan said in Brown’s Gypsum’s second year of operation, the team had a good year that was also educational.

“We had a bumper season, demand was up because of how much rain we had in the region last year,” she said.

“Due to a wet 2022, farmers needed gypsum to restore nutrients in their soil.

“We had a few wet days during this season where we had to close, but that’s normal.

“We had a decent year last year, but this year we have built on that and seen growth.

“We’re happy with the outcome of this season and are focused on ensuring farmers have high-quality gypsum available.”

Ms Ryan said the season concluded at the end of last week and would reopen again in October or November this year when the weather began to warm up again.

SPECIAL AWARDS: Horsham O’Connors engineering apprentice Aiden Keys won outstanding first-year apprentice and apprentice of the year at SuniTAFE awards.

Aiden Keys, 19, works at agricultural machinery dealership O’Connors, in Horsham.

He won outstanding firstyear apprentice of the year and apprentice of the year, first year, certificate iii in engineering fabrication trade.

Mr Keys said he was honoured to receive the awards.

“I was honestly amazed,” he said.

“To have been named the winner of the outstanding firstyear apprentice was very special, but to also win apprentice of the year was so exciting. I can’t believe it.”

Mr Keys said resilience, determination and a passion for learning from the ‘best in the business’ at O’Connors, had paid off.

“I’m really proud of myself. I have achieved a great deal during the past two years,” he said.

“All the hard work has been worth it. I feel like I am positioned well for a successful career in engineering and the future looks bright.”

Mr Keys said the opportunity

to join O’Connors was significant and boosted his career prospects.

“I started my engineering apprenticeship at another business before I joined O’Connors,” he said.

“The level of support, the equipment, the financial assistance and mentoring I’ve received since joining O’Connors is second to none.

“I can explore all facets of engineering through my apprenticeship with O’Connors, and I am going to make the most out of it.”

Mr Keys encouraged anyone looking for an ‘exciting and rewarding’ career, who had an interest in building or working with machinery, vehicles and accessories, to consider an apprenticeship.

He said his friends had pointed him in the direction of O’Connors’ Redstart Apprenticeship program.

“If I had my time again, I would have applied for this immediately,” he said.

“There are plenty of options as part of the initiative and you will work with brilliant people.

“The support you get from the program co-ordinator, in particular, is world-class.”

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A field of dreams

Inalmost every conversation

I have about moving to the regions, the first response is ‘there’s no jobs in the country’. And this is often from people who should know better.

So Regional Australia Institute’s latest research paper, titled The Big Skills Challenge, is a welcome contribution to busting this annoyingly persistent myth.

The research paper shows in March this year there were 93,000 advertised jobs in regional Australia. And, as all regional employers know, there will be at least this number again that are not advertised.

For many of us, word of mouth or using our various network, is a more effective way of attracting the right talent.

Another important observation is the shift in the types of jobs available.

Whereas once there would have been a focus on semi-skilled jobs in agriculture and industry, these types of jobs only make up 9.5 percent of advertised roles.

Professional roles in areas such as medical practice, nursing, education and business make up 26.7 percent of advertisements. Skilled trades in automotive, engineering, construction, hairdressing, information technology and telecom-

From left field

with David Matthews

munications sectors make up a further 15.1 percent.

We need to be shouting this from the top of our painted silos. There are many great jobs here, for you and your partner.

What bothers me most is finding a way to be heard.

At a high level, RAI’s work is fantastic and they do have the ear of government. I’m hopeful we’ll see greater attention from federal and state governments toward regional policy development.

But we’re in an environment where there is a chronic skills shortage in the capital cities as well. How do small towns in western Victoria get any attention when this is a national problem?

Contemplating the answer to this question leads to the next question. What are our strengths?

At Rupanyup, we have been asking ourselves this question for a few years now.

Through the Rural Migration Initiative we soon identified a lack of housing as the key blocker to attracting people to the region. But we should be able to flip

this. We should be able to make access to affordable housing our strength. We have relatively cheap and available land, and in many places we have surplus public infrastructure – schools, roads and sporting facilities already built.

What we have not had is a collaborative framework to get the scale we need to engage with investors and developers, and get projects happening across multiple locations. But this is changing.

The community bank network is about to launch a pilot project with the aim of building 200 dwellings across 10 towns under the Distributed Housing Project banner. If we can do this successfully, it should demonstrate to government, investors and developers there is an alternative to building 1000 houses on the edge of a major city.

In regions such as the Wimmera, this project can add momentum to the great work being done by Wimmera Development Association in bringing together interested groups to drive housing development.

As regional people, we cannot wait for improved government policy to have an impact.

It may never reach us, but we can create our own field of dreams. We can build it and they will come.

WELCOME: Johnson Asahi representatives, from left, Mark Johnson, Noriyuki Nakamura, Corey Ryan, Katsura Nishinaka, Yoshihiko Kubo, Kazushi Tomita and Shigeto Okazeri visit the Dooen factory during the business’ 100-year celebrations.

Anniversary celebrations

Johnson Asahi’s Wimmera teams welcomed several international guests on Saturday to inspect its Horsham operation and new facility at Dooen.

Asahi Industries president Noriyuki Nakamura, Asahi Agria managing director and Johnson Asahi director Kazushi Tomita, Godo Steel managing director Katsura Nishinaka, Yoshihiko Kubo and Shigeto Okazeri, of Asahi Agria, JT Johnson and Sons managing director Mark Johnson and JT Johnson and Sons international marketing manager Corey Ryan toured the site.

The visit coincided with 100-year anniversary celebrations of the founding of JT Johnson and Sons and the opportunity to inspect the operations of a new facility at Dooen.

JT Johnson and Sons began in 1923 when company founder John Theodore Johnson established a small chaff mill plant in Stockport, South Australia.

In 1995, Johnson Asahi formed as part of a joint venture between the fourth-generation Australian family business and Japanese company Asahi Industries.

The same year a hay processing plant was built in Horsham to produce oaten hay, alfalfa hay and straw.

The new facility at Dooen has been operating since January and is part of the process of the company relocating its operations from Plumpton Road, Horsham, to the Wimmera Intermodal Freight Terminal at Dooen.

VFF: More pain for regional Vic

The State Budget, released on Tuesday last week, will bring the Victorian government’s investment into the agricultural industry since 2015-16 to $1.2 billion.

The agricultural industry was worth $17.5 billion, which supported 147,000 Victorian jobs in agriculture production and food manufacturing in 2020-21.

This year the State Budget allocated $49 million to enhance biosecurity protections and back world-class producers.

The money will support grant programs for producers, scholarships for hospitality workers, a farm safety and well-being program and funding for pests and weed management.

The government also committed to continuing the growth, protection and modernisation of the industry through a transformative 10-year Agriculture Strategy, which sets out a way forward to 2030.

“We’re backing our worldclass agriculture industry and the Victorians who rely on it,

helping farmers access new markets at home and overseas and future-proofing the sector against pests and diseases,” Agriculture Minister Gayle Tierney said.

Victorian Farmers Federation leaders expressed disappointment the agriculture industry and rural communities did not receive the funding they needed in the budget.

President Emma Germano said regional Victorians were being made to pay because of government decisions.

“While the treasurer’s speech talked a lot about paying down debt, it failed to mention the debt owed to regional communities who kept Victoria from recession in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

“Tim Pallas also failed to mention that debt levels for the state will continue to escalate during the next five years.

“Regional Victoria contributes almost 15 percent to the state’s economy and is the home of about a quarter of all Victorians, but has been left reeling with

only five percent investment in the State Budget.”

Ms Germano said inequity in infrastructure spending would increase the cost of doing business for farmers and food prices for consumers.

“A $1.8 billion, 10-year road maintenance program is not long-term funding certainty – it is playing make-believe,” she said.

“It does nothing to give road asset managers the certainty needed to plan works and line up contractors to fix our roads, now.

“Failure to fix the state’s rotten roads will just mean more pain for farmers, supply chains and regional Victorians.”

Ms Germano said government responsibilities such as protecting agriculture from biosecurity threats would be put at risk by reduced funding.

“Despite some short-term investment for biosecurity funding, the large reduction to the agriculture portfolio’s budget will lump added strain on the biosecurity system,” she said.

EXPERIENCE:

Fourth-year university student Annie Yu packs seeds during work experience with Birchip Cropping Group.

Placements grow understanding

Birchip Cropping Group is offering Wimmera and Mallee science students a chance to connect with farmers through a work experience program.

University of Melbourne fourth-year student Annie Yu has joined the BCG team, sharing the group’s passion for food security, sustainability and the desire to apply science practically.

BCG founding members Ian and Anne McClelland hosted Ms Yu, which allowed her to gain a holistic understanding of how science is applied on farms.

“My first work experience placement was a study I completed in Indonesia with a nongovernment organisation to learn more about food security,” she said.

“Being in the rice fields and talking with farmers cemented, for me, that I want to be working on the ground, with those who grow

our food.” This experience brought Ms Yu to BCG.

She said she did not want to feel separated from farmers, which made BCG an easy choice for her second placement.

BCG also recently hosted Birchip P-12 School agricultural students Claire Bennett, year 11, and Torey Atkinson, year 10.

During the experience the students weighed and packed seeds with senior manager of research Dr Yolanda Plowman and operations manager Genevieve Clarke.

The students also learned how BCG trials were sown and the importance of research.

Dr Plowman said BCG valued its role in providing positive, hands-on experiences for both secondary and university students and was privileged that so many students chose to complete work experience at BCG.

– Ayva

Robertson

Region lands in top-five report

Graingrowing seems to be going through a golden era, or at least the land it is grown in.

Elders released its second annual ‘Top Five Cropping Regions’ report and the Wimmera and Mallee came in a very impressive second in the nation, behind north-west NSW.

So how do they come up with the top five?

Author of the report, Elders market insights specialist Matt Ough, admits it is a fun and hypothetical calculation based on the predominant cropping region’s quarterly compound average growth rate for the year.

It lists the Wimmera and Mallee’s major rural centres to include Charlton, Hopetoun, Horsham, Kaniva, Kerang, Mildura, Ouyen and Swan Hill.

It says the five-year compound average growth rate is 19.7 percent and the rolling one-year median price per hectare averaged a quarterly increase of 7.6 percent in 2022.

The first report, last year, placed the Wimmera and Mallee fifth on the list.

So how did we rocket up the ranks?

“The rolling one-year median price per hectare averaged a quarterly increase of two percent in 2021, but in 2022 the region averaged growth of 7.6 percent per quarter. The key change for the region was a greater proportion of sales in the higher-price Wimmera region in 2022 compared with 2021. The obvious driver of confidence in the region was high grain prices and exceptional yields,” Mr Ough told Country Today.

There are two new entrants into the top five which are worthy of further consideration.

Firstly, there is the Riverina Murray, taking

Country Today

with Libby Price

in the regional towns of Albury, Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin, Griffith and Young. In the past few decades there’s been a huge shift from livestock production to predominantly cropping.

The other is the Mid North and Yorke Peninsula of South Australia.

As a South Australian, those areas used to be dry, arid station country zones that were predominantly merino country.

When we drove through the Yorke Peninsula to family fishing holidays on the coast, we would feel sorry for the sight through the heat haze of 30 mobs of merino wethers crammed under what little shade they could find.

Now, Mr Ough says, the multinational corporates are buying up big to turn it into pure cropping country.

Such have our cropping practices evolved over recent decades that land once considered marginal at best can produce profitable crops.

I’m just grateful that I made my life-changing tree change to the country nine years ago, before the property boom took off.

It must be daunting for any young farmer wanting to strike out on their own.

Still, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Your local guys leading the way in better returns

LAUNCH: Sheep Producers Australia chief executive Bonnie Skinner, former Sheep Sustainability Framework manager Sarah Hyland, SSF steering group chair Scott Williams and SSF board chair Lucinda Corrigan launch the second Sheep Sustainability Framework annual

Commitment to improvement

The second Sheep Sustainability Framework annual report, released earlier this month, has revealed a broad range of data to date on the performance of the Australian wool and sheep meat industry.

Led by Sheep Producers Australia and WoolProducers Australia, the Sheep Sustainability Framework, SSF, was launched in 2021, with the first annual report released a year later.

It contained 58 indicators under four themes – caring for our sheep; enhancing the environment and climate; looking after our people, our customers, and the community; and ensuring a financially resilient industry.

SSF sustainability steering group chair Scott Williams said the report made notable gains in its reporting capacity during the past year, with a range of new information being added in 2023, including 25 new baseline data points.

“When we launched the inaugural annual report in 2022, just over half of the indicators were

reported with data,” he said. “Today, 91 percent of our indicators are reported with data, and we are on track for 100 percent next year.

“These metrics allow us to determine directional changes over time, highlight our successes, identify areas for improvement and demonstrate the sustainability credentials of one of Australia’s most important industries.”

SSF board independent chair and sheep producer Lucinda Corrigan said each annual report was an expression of the commitment to continuous improvement across the industry.

“One of the most important functions of the annual report is to bring transparency to our industry and identify areas where we need to improve,” she said.

“We have a duty to our people, our animals and our consumers to strive for excellence in sustainability and continue to affirm the Australian industry’s position as among the best in the world.”

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Budget delivers mixed result for ag

TheFederal Budget delivered a mixed result for rural Australia with agriculture industry representative organisations both praising and criticising commitments.

Leaders at GrainGrowers, a national farmer collective, welcomed a steadfast commitment to maintaining fuel tax credits and extra attention to childcare, but were disappointed the government missed a range of valuable investment opportunities for grain growers.

GrainGrowers chief executive Shona Gawel said additional funding for childcare was a welcome step forward.

“This funding addresses a range of issues affecting growers concerning childcare access,” she said.

“While it might not appear to be an obvious issue for the grains industry, preparation is well underway for a rural and regional childcare roundtable to work through the issues and consider the next steps.”

Farmers for Climate Action leaders welcomed the announcement of a $310 million small business energy incentive, to enable farm businesses to claim tax incentives for investments in on-farm batteries and electrification.

Farmers for Climate Action chief executive Fiona Davis said farmers had called for incentives for farm batteries, which were required to make batteries viable.

“Giving farmers real incentives to invest in batteries has the potential to help reduce peak demand on our electricity grid, which

could reduce the need for transmission,” she said.

“Batteries currently come with 10-year payoff periods and five-year warranties, and until this is fixed, farmers are unlikely to invest in them.”

Dr Davis said a $38.3 million pledge for the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics to improve data collection and low-emission technology on agriculture, and $40.7 million for five years for farm extension officers was money re-purposed from existing funds.

“Farmers for Climate Action had called for more investment in extension officers and so welcomes this news, and calls for further investment in more extension officers,” she said.

Biosecurity protection

Dr Davis said the budget provided some helpful initiatives, but greater investment in helping farmers tackle climate change was needed.

Ms Gawel said as grain production was a powerhouse commodity, Australian growers deserved more investment in areas including biosecurity, infrastructure investment and taxation.

She said the decision to impose a biosecurity protection levy on producers was disappointing, because farmers were not risk creators and could now be facing undue costs.

“The Agriculture Minister, Murray Watt, only recently endorsed an independent report by the Invasive Species Council that suggested the people who create the

biosecurity risks need to pay their fair share,” she said.

“The imposition of what the government believes is a ‘modest levy’ is neither fair or well directed and we would respectfully ask the government to reconsider such a short-sighted decision.”

Ms Gawel said road funding was another disappointment and while some funding had been allocated, it was a drop in the ocean compared to what was needed.

“While we understand the financial constraints facing the government, decimated rural roads are driving up inflation and putting regional drivers at risk,” she said.

“With climate change increasing, we need urgent investment to ensure the resilience of road networks.

“Rural roads must not be left behind in Australia’s $120 billion infrastructure investment pipeline.”

Ms Gawel said the decision to reduce the instant asset write-off to $20,000 – capped at $10 million turnover – was a ‘glasshalf-empty’ approach.

“In the feedback we’ve received from growers, they have been looking to the government to provide a solid incentive to invest in the machinery required to gain efficiencies and improve productivity,” she said.

“Given the persistent delays and global shortages in accessing machinery, an extension would have enabled farmers to receive the current machinery and assets on order.”

“Rural roads must not be left behind in Australia’s $120 billion infrastructure investment pipeline”

– Shona Gawel