Category: Grains

A strong, late break in Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia has led to good winter crop condition reports, with the latest ABARES crop outlook predicting a slightly improved wheat volume of 21.2 million tonnes (Mt). Source: Beef Central Fickle season confounds national crop estimates

Perdaman plans to build a fertiliser plant in north-west NSW using power from Santos’ proposed Narrabri Gas Project. Source: Grain Central Perdaman eyes NSW fertiliser market with Narrabri plant

Spring rain’s a must, despite good early conditions for winter crops in Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia the dry outlook is concerning says NAB. Source: Grain Central Fickle season confounds national crop estimates: NAB

The winter crop growing season in Western Australia hangs in the balance for the majority of the grainbelt. Source: Grain Central WA season hangs in the balance

Some growers in NSW are weighing up their options for grain, grazing or hay, while cereals trade flat to lower in the feed market to reflect Monday’s drop in US futures. Source: Beef Central Feedgrain Focus: Inverse stymies sales, prices ease on US tumble

There are plenty of barriers, but if we really want to we can feed the world on plant protein, largely from legumes. Source: Grain Central It’ll be hard, but we can feed the world with plant protein

In the Adelaide Hills, the age-old craft of whiskey-making joins with some of Australia’s ancient bush foods to create a thoroughly modern drop. Source: ABC Grain Wattle seed whiskey made with age-old techniques to create a modern flavour

Can agriculture meet the food demands of the world into the future and do it in a sustainable way? Source: Grain Central Can we feed the world without wrecking the planet?

Mouse numbers remain low in all areas across Australia, and will continue to decline through winter until spring when breeding starts. Source: Grain Central Dry winter keeps mouse numbers in check

Agriculture is now undergoing its third major revolution from mechanical and scientific revolutions into the digital agriculture age, leading to an explosive demand for candidates possessing technology skills to fill the job market. Source: Grain Central Recruitment: Technology adoption in agriculture creates changing trends in jobs market

BASF plans to launch its first new wheat seed varieties onto the Australian market in 2021, working with Seednet as its commercial partner. Source: Grain Central BASF to enter Australian wheat seed market

Drought-stricken farmers are calling for failing grain trader GrainPro to be wound up in a bid to receive some of the $6 million dollars they are owed. Source: ABC Grain ‘In hell at the moment’: GrainPro boss vows to pay back every cent to farmers

Rain this week in most South Australian and Victorian growing regions, and pockets of southern NSW, have prompted some forward selling of new-crop wheat and barley as yield prospects consolidate. Source: Beef Central Feedgrain Focus: Grower sales ramp up on southern rain

The perilous state of Australia’s fuel reserves could threaten supplies to the cropping sector as farmers head into the busy haymaking and grain harvest seasons. Source: Beef Central Fuel reserves run low as peak farming season approaches

The perilous state of Australia’s fuel reserves could threaten supplies to the cropping sector as farmers head into the busy haymaking and grain harvest seasons. Source: Grain Central Fuel reserves run low as peak farming season approaches

Farrer Medal winner Tim Reeves has championed the researcher-farmer relationship to bring about constructive practices, and called out some widespread farming practices as unsustainable. ..Read More Source: Grain Central Farrer Medal winner Tim Reeves calls for greater sustainability

Keep up to date with Australian cropping industry developments with Grain Central’s monthly quiz…Read More Source: Grain Central Grain Central’s July 2019 grains and cropping news quiz

Delta Agribusiness has completed the acquisition of the independent rural services business North West Ag Services and AGRIvision consultants (NWA-AVC) that operates in the Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria…Read More Source: Grain Central Delta Ag acquires major Victorian ag services business

The Australian Grains Industry Conference kicked off in Melbourne today as the national forum for those in the supply chain to gather with international visitors and analysts to talk about what lies ahead…Read More Source: Grain Central AGIC brings together 500 delegates to navigate the future + PICS

The NFF has launched the ‘Telling Our Story’ initiative to build a better connect between rural Australia and urban communities and encourage a multi-tiered approach from government to help farmers build resilience and a bright future for agriculture…Read More Source: Grain Central Reputation, resilience feature in NFF’s drought-hit picture: AGIC

Wagga Wagga-based grain-trading company GrainPro is continuing to trade now that it has entered voluntary external administration…Read More Source: Grain Central GrainPro trades on under voluntary administration

Ridley has officially opened its extrusion plant at Westbury, and Tasmanian Stockfeed Services has announced plans to build a new feedmill at its Devonport site…Read More Source: Grain Central One Tasmanian feed plant opens, another on its way

The excellence and achievements of the Australian cotton industry over the past year were recognised at the 2019 Australian Cotton Industry Awards last night…Read More Source: Grain Central Cotton’s high achievers recognised at awards + PICS

Rain in the past week has helped to consolidate yield prospects for many southern crops and prompted some selling of stored grain, but new-crop feedgrain rates are holding as the market eyes limited production prospects in northern regions…Read More Source: Beef Central Feedgrain Focus: Limited grower selling supports new-crop

NSW grain and beef farmer, Oscar Pearse, believes the Australian grains industry is in desperate need of a makeover and would be better served by an industry-owned body that could oversee marketing and manage consumer expectations…Read More Source: Grain Central Grain industry shakeup overdue

Ethanol and DDGS production at Dalby Bio-Refinery Limited (DBRL) fluctuated in recent weeks in response to prevailing high grain prices and variable demand for the petroleum additive…Read More Source: Grain Central Tough terms of trade cut Dalby Bio-Refinery grain use

The Stick Shed at Murtoa in the heart of Victoria’s Wimmera will reconnect with its grain-industry origins when it hosts the maiden exhibition for Melbourne-based photographer Jenani Therone…Read More Source: Grain Central Photography, grain history come together at Murtoa’s Stick Shed

Australian scientists have played a key role in developing crops super-charged with extra vitamins and minerals that are now being used to overcome life-threatening nutrition issues in the Third World…Read More Source: Grain Central Crops super-charged with vitamins fight Third World hunger

The 2019 winter crop outlook is a mixed bag, with a solid, late break in WA, Victoria and SA driving strong plantings, while NSW and Queensland continue to face very tough conditions…Read More Source: Grain Central Winter crop outlook a mixed bag: NAB

Farmers and scientists across the country are finding new ways to keep food on the table, as climate change moves rainfall patterns and increases heatwaves, droughts and floods. Source: ABC Grain Farmers are ripping out trees and moving south as climate change progresses — but all is not lost

A CSIRO reconstruction of the Federation drought of 1891 to 1903 finds that if it were to occur again today, its effects would likely be even more devastating. Source: ABC Grain What if the Federation drought happened today?

A team of NSW DPI scientists has developed a portable tool to test plant DNA and help land managers keep ahead of serrated tussock and Chilean needle grass outbreaks. ..Read More Source: Grain Central LAMP kit thwarts spread of two invasive grasses

As Australia’s competition watchdog prepares to study the Murray-Darling Basin’s $2 billion water trade, a trip up the river finds irrigators are worried about the market’s “unintended” consequences. Source: ABC Grain Everyone is buying and selling water, yet farmers say they are the biggest losers

Supplies of urea have tightened following general rain across much of southern Australia, where season prospects are consolidating and farmers are busy top-dressing crops with improved yield prospects…Read More Source: Grain Central Tight spot supplies of urea point to drought hangover

Grants are available for community-driven initiatives that reduce social isolation, increase social participation and connectedness, and increase help-seeking for people within rural, regional and remote communities who are at risk of, or are experiencing mental health issues…Read More Source: Grain Central Grants for mental health initiatives in rural Australia

Agricultural chemical use will come under increasing challenge from a range of quarters, including climate change, rising pesticide resistance levels, more stringent constraints on residues and closer scrutiny by consumers…Read More Source: Grain Central What is the future of chemical use in Australian agriculture?

Wheat production is predicted to be well below average yield across many parts of Australia’s wheat belt this season, according to seasonal climate researchers at the University of Queensland…Read More Source: Grain Central National wheat yield prospects ‘poor’: QAAFI

Inspirational players in the grains industry were recognised for their contribution at a gala awards dinner held as part of the 2019 Australian Summer Grains Conference on the Gold Coast last night…Read More Source: Grain Central Summer grains champions recognised at awards dinner + PICS

Growers, researchers, marketers and customers from across Australia have gathered on Queensland’s Gold Coast for the 2019 Australian Summer Grains Conference…Read More Source: Grain Central Summer grains the hot topic on Gold Coast + PICS

Agricultural bodies have responded to last night’s ABC television’s Four Corners ‘Cash Splash’ program which called into question the Murray Darling Basin’s multi-million-dollar irrigation efficiency scheme…Read More Source: Grain Central Ag responds to Four Corners ‘Cash Splash’ episode

An independent review into the Murray-Darling Basin has found that government investment into irrigation efficiency projects has achieved 85 per cent of the 750 gigalitres per year target…Read More Source: Grain Central Billions spent on Murray-Darling water infrastructure: here’s the result

Australia’s first large-scale plant-protein extracting facility is expected to start production next year at Horsham in Victoria’s Wimmera distract, and is set to become a major regional consumer of faba beans…Read More Source: Grain Central Horsham facility to boost domestic faba-bean demand

Bearish factors including the recent tumble in US grain futures’ values have overpowered the chronic deficit of local grain in Queensland and New South Wales to see values ease by $10 per tonne in this week’s feedgrain market…Read More Source: Beef Central Feedgrain Focus: Prices drop /tonne on US softness, WA rain

A 43-year-old St George man has been charged with 23 fraud related charges after a protracted investigation into three applications made to the Queensland Government’s Drought Relief Assistance Scheme…Read More Source: Grain Central Man charged with ,000 Drought Relief Assistance Scheme fraud

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is hosting irrigator workshops with independent water consultancy Aither for farmers in Mildura, Kerang, Echuca, Tatura, Numurkah, and Benalla throughout July…Read More Source: Grain Central Tapping into water trading

Registrations are open for the grainfed beef industry’s premier technical event, SMARTBEEF 2019, being held this year over two jam-packed days from 2-4 October at Dalby Events Centre on Queensland’s Darling Downs. The program features a range of speakers, demonstrations and social events, designed to appeal to participants across the beef supply chain…Read More … Read more »

The top 20 per cent of cotton growers in 2018 grew more cotton for less cost and significantly higher returns than the ‘average’ farmer, according to the recently-released 2018 Australian Cotton Comparative Analysis…Read More Source: Grain Central Top producers capitalise on stand-out 2018 cotton season

The Federal Government has moved to protect landholders from the unlawful actions of activists by introducing new offences for the incitement of trespass, property damage, or theft on agricultural land…Read More Source: Grain Central Government acts to bolster farm trespass laws

Australian farmers face the challenge of trying to close the gap between actual and potential wheat yields at a time when production increases have plateaued and climatic conditions are changing…Read More Source: Grain Central Can growers close the wheat yield gap in a hotter, drier climate?

Keep up to date with Australian cropping industry developments with Grain Central’s monthly quiz…Read More Source: Grain Central Grain Central’s June 2019 grains and cropping news quiz

Consolidating prospects for the Central Queensland crop have allowed its wheat to price into the southern Queensland market as a curtain-raiser for new crop…Read More Source: Beef Central Feedgrain Focus: CQ wheat guides new-crop pricing

Papua New Guinea is now buying Australian wheat in cargoes of up to 25,000 tonnes to supply its flour and feed mills in Lae and Port Moresby. ..Read More Source: Grain Central PNG evolves into bulk market for Australian wheat

SunRice has announced consolidated revenue for the Group for FY19 of $1.2 billion, a 1.3 per cent increase, and a Net Profit After Tax of $32.8 million, a 27pc decrease on the previous year…Read More Source: Grain Central SunRice FY19: revenue up 1.3pc, profit down 27pc

The threat and uncertainty that climate change presents to Australian agriculture is an issue farmers should be taking very seriously, according to SARDI’s principal scientist in climate application, Peter Hayman…Read More Source: Grain Central Climate change threat to the ‘sand castle’ of farming

Hotter and drier-than-average weather led to reduced water availability and higher prices for tradeable water products in the Murray-Darling Basin in 2017–18…Read More Source: Grain Central Stable year for Murray–Darling Basin operators, despite drought: ACCC

The lack of access to reliable and robust statistics about agriculture is a continuing frustration for many in the industry, according to the Australian Farm Institute (AFI)…Read More Source: Grain Central Reinventing Australian agricultural statistics: AFI

The age-old farming menace, black oats, is rearing its head again as the weed of cereal and chickpea crops develops resistance to many of the herbicides that have kept it in check for the past few decades…Read More Source: Grain Central Black oats threat re-emerges as herbicides fail

Scientists are exploring taking crops out of the field and growing them in “speed breeding” warehouses to develop new varieties capable of feeding 10 billion people by 2050. Source: ABC Grain How do you feed 10 billion people? ‘Plant factories’ could be the answer

Farmers are bracing for a tough winter after autumn rains eluded much of the country, but the grain sector remained the most positive sector in Rabobank’s latest Rural Confidence Survey…Read More Source: Grain Central Growers brace for tough winter after dry start; recent rains rally hopes: Rabobank

One of the ‘founding fathers’ of no-till farming, Jeff Esdaile, continues to be a passionate advocate of the low disturbance, stubble retention farming system that has revolutionised Australian crop production…Read More Source: Grain Central Conservation farming stalwart’s pivotal part in Australia’s no-till story

Low water availability and high water prices have seen just 54,000 paddy tonnes of rice harvested in the Riverina this season, a fraction of the 2018 crop of 623,000 tonnes…Read More Source: Grain Central Riverina rice harvest wraps up with small crop, strong yields + VIDEO

After a disastrous season last year, the national winter crop is set to rise significantly as rains arrive in WA, the national forecaster says. Source: ABC Grain Australian winter crop to bounce back, ABARES says

ABARES’s latest crop report released today reflects mixed conditions across Australia and lower than average performance of the 2018-19 winter crop…Read More Source: Grain Central Mixed start for Australia’s winter crop season: ABARES

A heartfelt open letter written and posted to social media on Sunday night by South Australian grain grower John Gladigau seeking to explain “what farmers do and why” has attracted thousands of shares and comments…Read More Source: Grain Central Open letter to the non-agricultural community: Gladigau