The Weekly Grill

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week turns up the heat on Darwin-based rural property valuer Frank Peacocke, discussing the outlook for land values in the Northern Territory and Kimberley region, alternate landuse with the region's emerging farming sector, carbon opportunities and other issues.

As part of our series relating to AA Co's 200-year anniversary this year, today's Weekly Grill episode sees host Kerry Lonergan chatting with former AA Co senior manager Geoff Wagstaff, who worked with the company for almost 30 years, from 1979.   Here's some of Geoff's recollections of early company operations. Click here to view Beef Centrals' earlier story on AA Co's genetics history   The Week...

On the eve of the annual Inter-Collegiate Meat Judging northern conference in Rockhampton next week, Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan chats with ICMJ chairman Peter McGilchrist, on how the education body came into being, what purpose it currently serves for the beef and sheepmeat industry, and who has been part of the program over the years   The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and list...

Former NFF President Brent Finlay came out of the paddock two decades ago to tackle agricultural representation including local, state, commodity, national and World Farm Organisation roles. Passionate about Australia's greatest industry  - agriculture - its people, its communities and its products, he is seeking support from across the sector and the rural community for landmark reforms to Austra...

With the countdown to the Australian beef industry's paramount event, Beef 2024, now down to seven weeks, podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week chats with event chairman Bryce Camm. More than 100,000 Australian and international meat and livestock industry stakeholders are expected to pass through the Rocky Showgrounds for the six-day event. How are preparations going? What's new for 2024? How can...

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week chats with John Seccombe, Northern NSW beef producer and chairman of the Northern Co-operative Meat Co processing business at Casino. Operating since 1933, NCMC is recognised in Australia and globally as an industry leader in red meat processing, and along with WAMMCo in Western Australia, is one of only two cooperatively-structed red meat process...

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week chats with Michael Lee - Group manager for Science and Innovation at Meat & Livestock Australia.    In this role he provides strategic direction and leadership to MLA’s Science & Innovation team with the scope of work including food safety, processing efficiencies, automation, digital agriculture, objective measurement, food innovation, me...

Weekly Grill host, Kerry Lonergan this week catches up with Cattle Australia chief executive, Dr Chris Parker. Among other topics, the pair discuss the grassfed cattle levy, carbon and methane, biosecurity, skilled labour shortages, sustainability … and more.    

With Wednesday’s Indonesian national election victory being claimed by the Gerindra party’s Prabowo Subianto, attention will now focus on the prospects for 2024 live cattle import permits to be issued, following lengthy delays.   In this week’s Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan talks with Darwin based live exporter Patrick Underwood from Australian Cattle Enterprises, discussing the permit...

This week’s Weekly Grill podcast guest, Chris Evans, has spent his working life involved in extensive cattle operations across Northern Australia – both as a consultant/advisor and under his own steam.   He was managing director and later chairman of prominent agribusiness consultancy and asset managers Taylor Byrne (later Rural Management Partners) from 1987 to 2015, managing a wide range of past...

Driven by favourable weather across eastern Australia, the 2024 cattle market has opened with a flourish, as slaughter cattle, young cattle and breeder replacements all trend sharply higher in value.   Today's Weekly Grill podcast hosted by Kerry Lonergan features independent analyst Simon Quilty, discussing the current market environment and what lies ahead. Is the best of the price rally now beh...

Driven by favourable weather across eastern Australia, the 2024 cattle market has opened with a flourish, as slaughter cattle, young cattle and breeder replacements all trend sharply higher in value. Today's return of Beef Central's Weekly Grill podcast series begins with host Kerry Lonergan talking with regular markets commentators RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish discussing the current...

adoption of of new practises and technologies.   Based out of Mareeba, west of Cairns, the Queensland Department of Agriculture senior beef extension officer received a NABRC Lifetime Achievement Medal during the recent at the Northern Beef Research Update conference in Darwin. Along with great depth and breadth of knowledge of extensive grazing operations in northern Australia, Bernie brings unbr...

It’s National Ag Day today, and in response Weekly Gill podcast host Kerry Lonergan chats with freshly-minted National Farmers Federation President, David Jochinke. The NSW farmer and grazier took over from Fiona Simson in late October, wasting no time in launching an unprecedented campaign against anti-farming policies.

In their final livestock markets wrap for the year, regular markets commentators, RMA’s Chris Howie and Ep3’s Matt Dalgleish face the big questions: Are we at or near the bottom of the cattle and sheep price cycle? What impact will the forecast drier summer have on supply and demand? What are the main drivers heading into 2024? These and other topics are posed in today’s cattle market update podca...

Where is progress up to in the development of feed additives designed to mitigate the product of methane in the rumen of beef cattle? In this week's podcast, host Kerry Lonergan chews the fat with Dr Adam Main from CH4 Australia, a company producing feed additives based on asparagopsis seaweed, farmed in a network of land-based ponds on the Eyre Peninsula. The products are already in commercial us...

As the Australian red meat industry approaches the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of Meat Standards Australia, this week's Weekly Grill podcast episode dives deep into the evolution of the ground-breaking tenderness guarantee program with one of its pioneers, Rod Polkinghorne.     Rod provides a detailed and comprehensive background into what existed prior to MSA, the circumstances that le...

CAN Australia do more with its red meat production than simply putting it in a box and selling it in chilled or frozen form? Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with successful beef jerky manufacturer Emily Pullen, whose family produces the popular Jim's Jerky range in Queensland.   Jim's Jerky ploughs through about four tonnes of grassfed topsides each week producing its...

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with Cattle Australia's acting chief executive, Queensland beef producer Adam Coffey.   The pair discuss Cattle Australia's bedding-down over its first 12 months, progress on plans to fund the grassfed industry representative body, and CA's recent call to shift the beef industry's environmental benchmark focus from 'carbon neutral' to 'c...

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with Justin Slaughter, who has risen through the ranks in his 31-year career in the Australian meat and livestock industry. Justin is CEO and managing director of AgTrade, an Australian-owned, globally-focused livestock, genetics and food security company, with a commitment to working across the livestock supply chain to provide protein...

Australian young cattle and slaughter cattle prices have continued to descend during the first eight months of 2023. In this week's podcast, regular markets commentators, RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish face the big questions: Are processors going to be able to cope (labour wise) with larger numbers of slaughter cattle? If not, what happens to prices? These and other topics are posed in...

Thirty-three year old Mitch Highett is a city boy by origin, but has forged an impressive early career in the beef industry. He chats this week with Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan.     The Australian winner of the 2023 Zanda McDonald award lives in Orange NSW, and is the founder and managing director of Bullseye Ag. Mitch's farm management company works alongside farms across NSW and QLD...

Elders' Northern Australian property chief Tim Lane, and LAWD director and head valuer Tim McKinnon chew the fat with Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week about the property market outlook. Has the gloss gone off, because of the slump in cattle prices, dry weather and elevated interest rates? Are corporates about to mount another big acquisition surge?