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

Surra, Screw Worm Fly, Foot and Mouth, Varroa Mites, Africanised Honey Bee, Wheat Blast, African Swine Fever, TTTTF Stem Rust: the list goes on. There are hundreds of pests and diseases around the world that are a threat to Australia’s $65 billion agricultural industry. In recent years we have seen that an outbreak of fire ants in Queensland which has burnt though tens of millions taxpayers funds will likely cost $380m to eradicate. In the

Most people in Western Australia will not have heard of the Liberal Democrats, but there is such a party and they do have one member of State Parliament Aaron Stonehouse MLC who holds a seat in the South Metropolitan Region of Western Australia. According to their web site the Liberal Democrats have a vision of a state and country in which small government and minimal regulation combine to ensure and enhance our personal freedoms. It

Minister McTiernan has rightly pointed out that I am free with my advice on what the government should be doing to improve outcomes in the regions. But this time I’m not going to direct my advice to her or the Labor party, as I don’t believe that there is any chance that a political party so dependent on Green preferences will even begin to consider what I am about to propose even though the environmental

The state’s pastoral leaseholders will be at the front line if we get a Foot and Mouth outbreak in northern Australia. If this disease gets imported into the Kimberley from an illegal landing or – god forbid – some mad biological terrorist, then we are looking at a massive destocking and feral animal eradication campaign that will make the 27-year long brucellosis eradication program look like a walk in the park. To put this in

In the old days bread, milk and eggs were the staples of our diet. Ok, those old days were a long time ago – almost back to war rationing days when families faced empty shelves as supermarkets ran out of essentials. Post-war the world returned to normal and the shelves were always full of food. When in short supply, some things became luxuries and were signalled by limited supply and high prices. Just as we

In last week’s Farm Weekly (August 15 – p.12) PGA Western Grain Growers Chairman claimed that I, as CEO of WAFarmers had, ‘taken a very prominent course of action designed to create the petty bickering he claims to so despise in order to further his own personal aims.’ Now this is an interesting claim and is just one of a number of assertions made in the Letter to the Editor that deserves a response, particularly

WAFarmers represents 1150 farm businesses and has 4000 individual members across the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West of the state. As an advocacy organisation, we support political parties with policies that clearly support our members’ interests. The Liberal Party has a proud tradition of members representing rural and regional seats both at a state and federal level and has a long list of past and present members of parliament who have been farmers and