Country Today

We will preview the annual premier weaner calf sales are only weeks away and buyers and sellers are contemplating what prices might do. Year 12 students received their ATAR results last week and will be contemplating their future. For many regional students, tertiary study will seem financially out of reach. Bendigo Bank has a scholarship program with more more than 70 Community Bank. A new drough...

While the current grain harvest in this south east corner of the country is delivering mixed results due to a dry spring, in Western Australia farmers are harvesting a bumper crop. Global wheat supply is on the rise, which doesn’t auger well for wheat prices this harvest.  The almond plantation industry has seen massive growth in the past three decades to now put Australia as one of the...

The sudden shutdown of major Gippsland salad grower Dicky Bill has left over one hundred workers in Maffra in Gippsland unemployed, but the local community is doing all it can to help. Victoria has finally got with the program and approved the use of virtual fencing for cattle. You’ll hear how it all works from the New Zealand owned company Halter, the world’s largest virtual fencing p...

It was the worst kept secret in politics when former Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce defected to One Nation this week it's time to get the popcorn and wait for the inevitable clash between big personalities, leader of One Nation Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce. The big news today is the Victorian Government has approved the use of virtual fencing. Editor James Wagstaff. On Country Today we've been...

Today, two outlooks First Bendigo bank looks what’s ahead in agriculture for the next six months. Then the latest seasonal climate outlook, with Ag Victoria Risk Agronomist, Dale Grey. And a farmer who started messing about with drones to do difficult jobs on the farm, now an agricultural drone contractor. The National Irrigators Council is warning more water may have to be taken from irriga...

The Allan Labor Government is now postponing the implementation of the Emergency Service and Volunteer Fund levy until 2027. Ratepayers in the Mildura shire are paying some of the highest rates in Victoria — up to seven times higher than those in southern regions. Also a national update on the east coast grain harvest from GrainCorp. Bumper crops in Queensland and northern NSW. But the furth...

To the horticulture industry, and snap inspections of farms by officers from the Fair Work Ombudsman has confirmed that the Sunraysia and Riverina horticulture regions are among the least-compliant with workplace laws.  Lentil prices are the strongest they've been all season, reaching $640 a tonne. And another solid week of trading with the market rose 17 cents to close at 1521 cents a kg. Au...

Australian beef production is breaking records, driven by one of the strongest and most productive cattle herds in years. Nationals Party Leader David Littleproud has accused Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt of not understanding how the just passed Environment and Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will interact with State environment protection laws. This seaso...

This year will go down in the history book for the value of Australian agricultural producing just shy of $100 billion. You’ll hear from ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville. On Country Today we've heard from those whose dryland farms fall on the proposed VNI West Transmission line, connecting Victoria renewable energy to New South Wales. Colin Fenton is the first to outline what it...

Rain this last week has slowed the grain harvest in the Wimmera with farmers accepting they'll still be sitting on their headers after Christmas. We’ll also head south to the higher rainfall cropping zone which has gone from very low soil moisture to a much more promising season. And then we’ll head to Gippsland to talk wild dogs. They are now hunting in packs and becoming more brazen,...

Farming contributes substantially to global emissions, its vast footprint means even modest improvements in carbon capture or emissions reduction can deliver global-scale impact. ANZ bank has released its Summer Commodity Report.   Feral deer are growing in numbers across the Western Victoria and the Grampians. Australia is breaking records in beef production, with the Australian Bureau of St...

It was one of those badly kept secrets. Former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce has resigned and will most likely join Pauline Hanson’s One nation party. Head of Politics at Monash University, Zareh Ghazarian. Also Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, never one to mince her words, with her response to the resignation of Barnaby Joyce. Federal Government's passing of new environme...

The Murray Darling basin authority has released an outlook report to guide how water is used into the future. And in short, we need to Prepare for a hotter, drier Basin. So what are the implications, particularly for southern basin irrigators and communities? Andrew McConville is Chief Executive of the MDBA. We’ll get a response to the MDBA Outlook Report from NFF Water Committee Chair Malco...

The grain harvest has begun with many farmers surprised at how well crops have coped with the dry season. But grain prices are not performing as hoped. We'll be joined by Dennis Voznesenski is an agricultural economist with Commonwealth Bank. You'll hear from two South Australian women who share the resilience required to endure a once-in-a-lifetime drought. Australia has secured $8.5-billion crit...

An assessment of the cop30 climate change conference in Brazil from of Australia’s leading advocates of sustainable agriculture Professor Matthew Harrison from the university of Tasmania’s institute of agriculture. Sheep prices continue to break records with first-cross ewes selling for an incredible $540 Demand is high due to the shrinking sheep flock. So are these prices sustainable?...

They said they'd build a farm in a day at Colac Secondary College, and they did over the weekend. Students, teachers, volunteers and community members were out in full force for the rollout of the Farm My School program. A Victorian beef cattle producer has won the Meat Standards Australia Eating Quality Award for consistently achieving exceptional results under the MSA grading system. The Austral...

Grains Australia is looking at exporting canola meal to Asia. It’s a by-product of processing canola oil and makes a good livestock feed. It's been a week since US President Donald Trump lifted the tariffs on hundreds of food products imported into the United States. And US farmers still support him. The wool market continued its resurgence this week with the EMI up 56 cents to close at 1514...

Australia’s wool marketing and research organization, Australian Wool Innovation, has elected a new Chair It’s George Millington So who is Mr Millington and what’s his vision for the industry? And it’s not just Victorian farmers trying to stop mining on prime farm land. South Australian farmers just a few kilometres from the Western Victorian border are furious about the St...

Today Federal Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley, who has announced a dumping of the party policy of having net zero carbon emissions in Australia by 2050.  And we will put to the test her claim that dropping net zero emissions will lead to lower energy prices with Australia's Energy Council. We will also put to the test the Federal Coalition’s claims that dumping the net zero carbon emiss...

The Victorian Liberal Party has a new leader, Jess Wilson So what does the coalition partner, the Nationals, think of the change? You’ll hear from Nationals Leader Danny O'Brien. The Federal Coalition has agreed on its decision to abandon net-zero, although the internal dynamics of the Liberal Party is suggesting very little unification  With southern NSW still in drought, the State Opp...

The Federal Coalition has finally agreed to dump the net zero carbon emissions policy. So what is their alternative? Victorian National Party Senator Bridget McKenzie. You’ll also hear what the National Farmers Federation thinks of the Coalition's decision to abandon Australia's net-zero emissions policy. We’ll take a look at the latest decision by the Trump administration to remove ta...

To Parliament House in Melbourne, where yet again, the controversial Emergency Services Tax has been debated. Yesterday, the Victorian Parliament received its largest-ever petition, with more than 40,000 signatures calling for the tax to be scrapped. You'll hear from Member for Western Victoria, Joe McCracken, who led the campaign. Deputy Mayor of Moorabool Shire, Jarrod Bingham, he says all 79 Vi...

The Federal Government has announced plans to increase its Murray-Darling Basin water recovery target, with Minister Murray Watt WANTING TO secure 400 gigalitres by the end of next year, doubling the original target. Seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey has just released the latest fast break with Agriculture Victoria and it looks like the season has turned around. An update from an agronomist in th...

This week the world’s largest agricultural machinery trade fair is on in Hanover, northern Germany. Country Today’s Libby Price is over there, broadcasting from Agritechnica. She spoke to Nataliia Kulakovska of KMZ Industries base in Kyiv Ukraine about how the war with Russia has impacted farming and daily life.  For the first time there is an Australia pavilion at Agritechnica. L...

Colac Agriculture is heading over to Hanover, Germany, for Agritechnica. It's the world’s largest agricultural machinery trade fair. Global beef prices are at record highs and yet again, Australian beef producers are well positioned as the U.S. cattle herd falls to its smallest size in decades. How the season has changed for some farmers in Victoria’s South West, after decent and consi...