August 22, 2014

WAFarmers hosted a beef forum, Future Opportunities for Beef, on Wednesday in Busselton. More than 70 producers, industry representatives and interested parties congregated at Abbey Beach Resort to hear from speakers including Senator Richard Colbeck, Meat and Livestock Australia Managing Director Richard Norton, Minderoo Group Investments Manager John Hartman and Agricultural Connections Australia Director Steve Meerwald. Senator Richard Colbeck, parliamentary secretary to the minister for agriculture, addressed the crowd about the recently secured Free Trade

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has hosted its third Blueprint for Australian Agriculture forum, bringing together over 100 organisations across the supply chain to pursue the collective priorities for Australian agriculture. The full statement: Federal Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce MP confirmed the Blueprint will complement the Government’s Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper: cementing its importance as a key visioning document and strategic plan for the sector. Minister Joyce and Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon

Farm business managers can find out more about concessional interest rate loans at upcoming field day events in Dowerin, Newdegate and Mingenew. The second application round of the Australian Government’s Farm Finance Concessional Loans Scheme is open in Western Australia. The scheme assists farm businesses who are experiencing some debt servicing difficulties but are commercially viable in the longer term, by providing loans at a concessional interest rate to undertake productivity enhancement activities. The scheme

Industry representatives, research organisations, consultants, community members and government agencies are invited to a forum to hear about decision-making approaches to be considered for investing in the future of natural resource use in WA agriculture. The Department of Agriculture and Food is hosting the Laying the groundwork for investment in the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture forum in Perth next month. Department Agriculture Resource Risk Management executive director John Ruprecht said by investing