AgWatchers

We have a chat with Patrick Hutchinson, CEO of the Australian Meat Industry Council. We talk about the issues around labour in meatworks, the media response to FMD, and free trade agreements that are in progress - and a whole lot more.  

TEM is no more, but the journey is never over.  Today we engage in our next episode. In this chat, we discuss the evolution of TEM to EP3. Recently, we have agreed to take over the TEM website and rebrand to a new entity owned entirely by the two of us. Thanks for the support of everyone over the past two years and into the future. 

We invite regular guest (x6) Chris Lawson back onto the podcast to have a chat about the fertilizer market. Chris is the head of fert for CRU Group, an industrial and fertilizer analysis firm. 

A very quick discussion on the big drivers in the market. Red meat demand heats up, risk of higher fertilizer pricing and Putin helping drive grain prices higher. 

We have a market chat. Lots of livestock data out - FSR, Cattle on feed and sheep turnoff. The grain market has also come under a lot of pressure with pricing levels falling. 

We are joined by Bonnie Skinner, CEO of Sheep Producers Australia.  Our chit-chat includes discussions of traceability, the gov biosecurity response, Chinese trade ban rumours, our new intro music and inflation impact on demand. 

Senator Raff Ciccone joins AgWatchers for chit-chat. Raff has launched a senate inquiry into the government biosecurity response to FMD/Varroa mite, which is ongoing.  We chat about food security, biosecurity, ag labour, FMD, diversity of markets and local manufacturing of inputs. 

We have a chat with Dugald Saunders MP, the agricultural minister for NSW. Biosecurity has been the hot topic of the last two months, but NSW is battling through its own devastating outbreak - Varroa mite in bees.  In this short conversation, we have a chat about EID tags, FMD responses and what is happening with the varroa mite outbreak in NSW. 

Just the two of us, a short podcast.  We chat more about falling livestock pricing, why we need to calm down about FMD, grain/fert pricing and food inflation.     

Just the two of us. A lot happening in ag markets at the moment. The big news over the past week has been the 'deal' to open up a corridor for Ukrainian grain exports.  We also cover the falling livestock prices in recent months and some discussions about a global downturn.    

It's been an interesting two years. COVID, FMD, invasion of Ukraine, a new Australian government, and so much more. Clearly, the biggest event was the start of the AgWatchers podcast, Australia's most amateur agricultural podcast.  The tables are turned on this podcast as we enlist a professional for our 2-year anniversary. Warwick Long, ABC Countryhour, turns the tables on us as we have a chat ab...

We talk to Mark Schipp, the Australian Chief Veterinarian Officer. In this podcast we go through the facts about FMD (and LSD/Varroa mite).    Are we prepared? Are feral pigs a risk? Do footbaths work? Do we need to ban Bali trips? What is the compensation? What is the risk? What are the controls in place? and a few other topics. 

Wheat down, canola down and cattle down.  We are back from a week or so on the road presenting around the country. After we get over the first few minutes of meandering through what we learnt on the road, we cover off the big drivers of the livestock and grain markets. 

In this episode, we recorded live from the stage of the VFF livestock and grains conference in Ballarat.  We had a chat Steve Harrison (Livestock President) and Ashley Fraser (Grains President) about the big issues impacting agriculture from changing governments to labour requirements. 

This week we did a joint episode with FlowFM, a South Australian radio channel. In this episode, we chat about food inflation, labour, government protectionism and a whole lot more. 

We have a chat with Andrew Henderson, consultant and chair of the SAFEMEAT advisory group. If FMD hits Australia, the impact could be $300m per week in lost trade, and your sheep/cattle will lose their value.  Exotic diseases are on the border. We have a chat with an expert on livestock traceability to discuss, firstly what happens to trade if we get FMD, and the debate around EID tags (and the da...

Just the two of us, as we talk about livestock and grain markets.    The restock in Australia, the destocking in the USA - what could this mean in the future?. We talk about FMD, as a risk factor to the grain industry, the 're-opening of Ukraine grain' and the two years on from the barley ban. 

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” – Benjamin Franklin In this podcast, we chat with Jay Famiglietti, a professor from the University of Saskatchewan, and former NASA chief scientist.  This is a sobering discussion on areas of the world, that are at major risk of running out of water, and the need to be more efficient with our water usage - something Australia is already top-notch...

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about carbon markets, we wanted to chat with someone about it from a market point of view.  So we had a yarn with Andrew Glass, of Viridios AI about carbon and ESG markets.  Andrew has a background in commodity trading (grains, minerals and energy) and has switched to carbon. This discussion looks at carbon from a markets/economic point of view. 

We have a chat with Kate Burke, the principal of Think Agri and author of 'Crops People Money & You'. This is a huge conversation covering a range of topics around one of our favourite topics - profitability. We also cover some controversial topics. 

When everyone thinks the same, nobody is thinking.  At AgWatchers we are a diverse pair, at least from our backgrounds. Diversity has been a big talking point when we have been at events in recent weeks.  We have a chat with Kristina Hermanson, about what is diversity, and is it really needed?

A very quick update.  Wheat prices are up 13% since last week, or A$80. It's been a big week. We have a quick chat about some of the major drivers of the market and what to think about it.  French wheat downgrades, global stocks down and the Indian 'ban' on exports. 

We have a chat with the newly minted CEO of Sheep Producers Australia, Bonnie Skinner. A lot is happening in the livestock space which has an impact on sheep (and cattle). We cover off on sheep live export shemozzle, if ALP win is it banned or not banned? The difficulty in wool, and the 'fight for acres'. How do you keep growing the wool industry if there are no shearers.  Food and mouth disease w...

He's done more matchmaking than tinder and match.com combined. We talk to the living legend that is Ryan Hoiberg (Rimfire Resources), the inspiration of the 'Chris Hoiberg Tangent'.  We brought him back to discuss the issues facing Australian labour at both a farm and corporate agribusiness level. 

A quick update for the start of the week, as we debate the risk of government interventions in markets. Are government interventions good or bad, we look through the past and present interventions and how they impact - usually through unintended consequences.    Remember - Sharing is caring.