October 2019

The state and federal governments have been slowly easing farmers and pastoralists off government drought support for the past thirty years. In 1989 the government removed drought from the list of natural disasters such as cyclone and floods which marked the beginning of the end for on farm financial support for when the rains don’t come. The first national drought policy was enacted in 1992 which centered around the controversial exceptional circumstances (EC) provisions of

This Eastern States drought is turning out to be one of the biggest on record, bigger and drier than the centenary, second world war and millennial droughts. Running into its second year this one has now become a serious political and economic headache for the Morrison government compounded by the recent intervention of Barnaby Joyce and Alan Jones. The existing policy approach by the government which focuses on farm household support to put food on

Those farmers who track Minister MacTiernan’s media will have noticed that she has an interest in the principle of regenerative agriculture which aims to restore the state’s soils from the damage inflicted by intensive modern farming methods. Last week, the Minister opened the first Regen WA Conference, which aims to promote the concept of new age agriculture as laid out by agricultural scientist Dr Charles Massey, the messiah of regen in Australia and renown author

Almost every government that comes along claims that agriculture is a critical part of the State’s economy, particularly important for supporting rural communities and regional. Ministers like to have their photo taken standing in a wheat paddock or at the sale yards; Premiers are on TV inspecting the Ord River and touring the Swan Valley. What you never see is the Premier or Minister standing in front of the fading sign at the former Department

Western Australian farmers have been watching the decades long debate over the future of Fremantle port with growing frustration. Not that being frustrated with the ports is anything new for farmers, those with long memories will recall instances in the 1970s when farmers answered the call to action and took it on themselves to load the ships when the wharfs were paralysed with strikes. Just as the National Farmers Federation joined with Patrick Stevedores to

The hot summer months in the Middle East are coming to an end as the mean temperature drops from 43’c in July to 42’c and 39’c in August and September down to a much more manageable 36’c in October. In time for the first of the spring live export ships from Australia to arrive following the lifting of the summer live export ban on 22 September. In its glory days the trade was moving over

In Western Australia we have our very own version of Ground Hog Day that tradition celebrated in the United States and made world famous by the movie of the same name. The movie starred the comedian Bill Murray who plays a TV weatherman on assignment to cover the annual emergence of woodchucks on the winter solstice, but something goes wrong and he ends up caught in a time loop repeatedly reliving the same day over