September 2014

The Skeleton Weed Program has again provided benefits for grains, seeds and hay industries, with the area of the Wheatbelt infested by weed being significantly reduced over the past year. This key finding was published in the skeleton weed annual report released to growers by the Grains, Seeds and Hay Industry Funding Scheme Management Committee that oversees the program. Chairman of the scheme, Barry Large, said the annual report demonstrated a number of ways in

WAFarmers Dairy Council is currently putting together a submission on the National Breeding Objective Review and calls on farmers to provide feedback on this important topic. The recommendations of the review which require feedback are: The current APR is replaced by a new balanced performance index which is outlined in the report. This index aligns directly to farmer preferences expressed during Australia’s Longest Farmwalk and the National Breeding Objective survey. Two additional indexes are released

Dr Kelly Manton-Pearce has nominated for election as a WAMMCO Member Director. Please see the attached message from Dr Manton-Pearce.  

Australian farmers and beekeepers now have access to a world-first smart-phone application to help ensure the safety of bees during normal farming practices. CropLife Australia, the peak national organisation for the plant science sector, today launched BeeConnected, a first of its kind geomap based, user-driven communication and coordination tool to help protect Australia’s honey bee population. Chief Executive Officer of CropLife Australia, Matthew Cossey, said “Australia has one of the healthiest honey bee colonies in

WAFarmers members are encouraged to contribute to the inquiry into R&D levies in the agricultural sector. This levy impacts on organisations like GRDC, AWI, MLA and RIRDC. Members can forward their thoughts to [email protected] to be passed on to the appropriate Executive Officer. Below is some information on the inquiry. Inquiry into the industry structures and systems governing the imposition of and disbursement of marketing and research and development (R&D) levies in the agricultural sector

Australian beekeepers are being warned about the risk of unnatural matings with a new study showing honey production and pollination services could be at risk due to the presence of Asian honey bees in Queensland. The Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) became established in Cairns in 2007 and research has now been conducted on what impact there might be if they mate (interspecific mating) with the European-derived honey bees (Apis mellifera) which are the basis

While many of Australia’s 150,000-plus hunters enjoy long-standing mutually-beneficial relationships with farmers, there’s still no widely-available efficient method for them to organise hunting activities, explore property maps and communicate effectively with farmers. Agricultural scientist James Tyson is aiming to get a better understanding of the interactions between farmers and hunters to assist in the development of an innovative online hunter–landowner management tool. The far-reaching Australian Hunter and Landowner Survey will provide insight into pest and

Women involved in agriculture are encouraged to nominate for the 2015 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation’s (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Award. Agriculture and Food Minister Ken Baston said the award was open to all women in primary industries and rural Western Australia. “The award supports and recognises the leadership role of women within their community and the outstanding contribution they make to agriculture and rural WA,” Mr Baston said. “The award recipient will receive a

Farmers eligible for $20 million in Federal concessional drought loans have been put into further financial difficulty by delays to delivering the program, WAFarmers President Dale Park said today. On March 21, WAFarmers met with Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and called for immediate action to be taken by the State government to ensure struggling farmers could access the drought assistance package as soon as possible. “We are pleased to see these loans finally made

WAFarmers President Dale Park and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Brown will be holding a meeting with the Department of Mines and Petroleum for an update on the Coal Seam Gas industry in early October. If any members have any specific queries or concerns they would like us to discuss please email Stephen ([email protected]) with your comments. An update will appear in the WAFarmers newsletter once the meeting has been held.