What foreign country owns the most Australian agricultural land?
Queensland Country Life recently published a very interesting article looking at foreign ownership of Australia’s leased and freehold agricultural land. While the authors suggest that foreign ownership has remained pretty stable over the last five years, you may be surprised by which countries top the list. You can access the article through this link.
Ever wanted to know more about the supply of and demand for goat meat around the world?
Meat and Livestock Australia has just released their Global Snapshot for Goatmeat report for 2022. This interesting and easy-to-read seven page report gives a detailed overview of market dynamics during 2021 and an analysis of the top Australian goat meat markets. Who knew that they eat more goat meat meals in a week in Vietnam than in anywhere else in the world? The report can be found here.
Sustainability and rural lending
Beef Central recently featured an article by respected agribusiness advisor Phil Holmes looking at the issue of sustainability and rural lending within the beef industry. Phil raises some very interesting questions about motive and process – read more here.
Can Australia’s mammals adapt to their predators?
ABC radio’s Richard Fidler recently interviewed ecologist Dr Katherine Moseby from Arid Recovery in South Australia. Katherine is part of a team of scientists researching ways to accelerate natural selection in mid-sized mammals like bilbies, bandicoots, dunnarts, bettongs and stick-nest rats to help them evolve to live alongside their predators, including millions of feral cats. Katherine is hoping that following the staged introduction of feral cats into the landscape alongside native animals, a tougher, faster, more predator-smart generation of native animals will be born within the next few years. There have already been some exciting developments including a new generation of bettongs born with bigger feet, and bilbies developing a new awareness of their predators. Find the link to the interview here.
Canadian ‘Cows on the Planet’ Podcast hits the airwaves
Some of Canada’s leading research scientists are putting together a series of podcasts to present balanced, science-based information to consumers so that they can make informed decisions on various controversial issues involving rangelands and livestock production. The ‘Cows on the Planet’ podcasts are available through the Canadian Beef Cattle Research Council’s website or directly through this link. Recent podcast topics include:
UNEP Wildfire Report released
Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Fires is the first report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal examining the scale and extent of the global wildfires. It has been commissioned in support of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and is based on the contributions of over 50 experts from research institutions, government agencies, and international organisations from around the globe. This report suggests that wildfires are growing in intensity and spreading in range across the world causing damage to the environment, wildlife, human health and infrastructure. For more information and to download the full report visit the UNEP website.
Do you have a long-forgotten cricket pitch on your property?
Cricket pitches have come and gone from towns and properties and left plenty of history behind in the form of crumbling concrete. As reported in Beef Central, Les Everett, an amateur historian from Western Australia, has been trying to revive that history with an Instagram page telling the stories behind the country’s abandoned cricket pitches. Read more here.
Farm-wide wi-fi a real possibility
Beef Central reports on a collaboration between Australian agtech start-up Zetifi and researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Charles Sturt University (CSU) aimed at delivering farm-wide wi-fi within 18 months. The ‘Farm-wide Wi-Fi Project’ is developing technology to solve connectivity problems in areas with little or no mobile coverage to provide fast and reliable connectivity that increases productivity, profitability, safety and quality of life. Read more here.