AgConnectWA will welcome the assimilation of the membership of Harvest Young Agri Food Professionals Group (Harvest) at a sundowner next month. To celebrate and formally recognise the merger, a sundowner will be held on Friday 17 June at The Byrneleigh in Nedlands, which all AgConnectWA and Harvest members are invited to attend. AgConnectWA was approached earlier this year regarding the assimilation of Harvest’s membership, after the latter recognised that it was not worth competing for

Following the decision to restructure the Sheep Industry Leadership Council (SILC) to form The Sheep Alliance of WA (Inc) (The Sheep Alliance), WAFarmers is calling for nominations for positions on the newly-formed board of directors. The proposed restructure of SILC’s membership to form The Sheep Alliance was progressed by two industry leadership meetings in March and May 2016, attended by a diverse representation of the sheep supply chain, including current SILC directors plus WAFarmers, PGA,

WAFarmers urges Western Australian consumers to purchase more fresh milk and yogurt, as difficulties continue for the state’s dairy industry. WAFarmers Chief Executive Officer Stephen Brown said that if consumers increased milk purchases by an extra litre or two, it would go a long way towards counteracting the current oversupply of milk and protecting the livelihoods of the dairy farmers. “While the WA dairy industry has not been hit as hard as the eastern states

The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) are offering two AgConnectWA members the opportunity to participate in the LambEx 2016 conference and join a post-conference tour with leading farmers, motivated and enthusiastic sheep producers from south west Western Australia. The selected participants will also join the newly formed on-farm technology pilot group of growers as well as members of the 100% Club for the tour. What is LambEx 2016?LambEx is an informative and inspirational

The parliamentary debate on securing farmer choice in Western Australia is welcomed, however playing silly politics with farmers’ livelihoods by unnecessarily extending debate to delay or entirely prevent the vote on the GM moratorium repeal bill is outright irresponsible. The WA Labor Opposition should put politics aside for the sake of the state’s farmers and the success of WA agriculture. Matthew Cossey, Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s plant science industry peak organisation CropLife Australia, today

WAFarmers has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement to delay the implementation of the proposed backpacker tax until January 1 2017, subject to a multi-department Federal Government review to be led by the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce. Following extensive work from key industry groups to persuade the government to change the proposed tax, Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer today announced that the introduction of the tax would be delayed, following a whole of government review. WAFarmers

WAFarmers has identified supply chain safeguards as being a key policy priority for the success of the nation’s agricultural sector, ahead of the Federal Election in July. With the gross value of Australian farm production sitting at $54 billion in 2014-2015, and that figure expected to rise to $60.3 billion in 2016-17, WAFarmers President Tony York explained that the Federal Government needed to act now to protect the future of Australian farming. “Following the downturn

WAFarmers calls on the State Ministers for Agriculture and Tourism to front the Prime Minister while he is in Western Australia to provide certainty on the proposed backpacker tax for the whole of the WA economy. As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull continues his Federal Election campaign in Perth today, WAFarmers CEO Stephen Brown said this would be the perfect opportunity for Minister for Agriculture Dean Nalder and Minister for Tourism Colin Barnett to emphasise the

WAFarmers president Tony York said the State Budget had seen good commitment to the future of the Western Australian agricultural sector. Under the State Government’s plan, there will be a significant injection of funds into the agricultural, tourism, mining and petroleum and fisheries industries to capitalise on opportunities. “We are pleased with Treasurer Nahan’s acknowledgement that the Western Australian agriculture and food industry sector is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges,” Mr York said. “The commitment

Comments by the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources to “watch this space” regarding to the backpacker tax issue have been criticised by WAFarmers. Speaking from Queensland yesterday, Minister Barnaby Joyce said the government was working towards a resolution, but that the public and industry groups had to now “watch this space”. WAFarmers Chief Executive Officer Stephen Brown said there was no time for uncertainty as backpackers had already started making their decision. “With