The Aussie Ag Update

The National Farmers Federation recently released a report looking at the state of mental health amongst Australian Farmers. 

Welcome back to the In The Know On the Go Podcast.
This week, host Oli Le Lievre sits down with Col Medway, Senior Director at LAWD, to get across the latest trends and happening in the Aussie Rural Real Estate market.

We cover:

• The outlook for 2023 and where the capital is coming from
• The changes in the past 6 months to the rural property market
• Advantages for international institutional investors with current exchange rates
• Importance for land stewardship and ownership in the property market
• The Global Agricultural investing conference in New York from April 3-5 

In this episode of the "In the Know on the Go" podcast, Host Oli Le Lievre is joined by John Droppert from Dairy Australia talks about the Australian dairy industry. 

We cover:

• The conversation moves to the trends in the Australian dairy industry over the last 12 months. 
• The latest report released by Dairy Australia shows a decrease of about 4-6% in total milk supply. John says this is a longer-term trend than just one season. Milk production peaked in 2012, and since then, there have been several factors that have contributed to the decline. These include milk price step-downs, farmers retiring or moving into beef, and labor shortages due to Covid.
• John talks about shifting consumer trends, with more people opting for full-fat milk over low-fat. 
• Key statistics discussed in the episode include the decrease in total milk supply by 4-6% and the peak in milk production in 2012 at 11.2 billion litres. 
• Did you know South Australians LOVE their flavoured milk, drinking three times the national average!

We've been harbouring a curiosity for the Women's Land Army ever since Fanny Lumsden mentioned them in her Humans of Agriculture episode: From Country Halls to Nashville - The Fanny Lumsden Story - and we've finally found the expert that can give us the lowdown.

Ms Meghan Adams, historian at the Australian War Memorial, joins us to get all our questions answered about the women who stepped into agricultural roles they probably never expected themselves to be in during World War 2. 

Meg is passionate about getting the stories of these women out there, and we feel really grateful that we can bring this piece of history to you!

In this episode, Meg tells us all about:

• How she became a historian
• What was the Women's Land Army? When was it formed and why?
• Australia's role as a food provider for allied nations and the women who kept the agriculture industry ticking over 
• How many women were Land Army "Girls"?
• Where were these women recruited from?
• What kind of jobs were they doing out on the farms?
• Why was there scepticism and how did they overcome it?
• The breaking down of stereotypes and barriers that lead to further employment of women post-1945

To read more head to Australian War Memorial - Women's Land Army

This week we welcome back Tom Rookyard and Mick Corcoran for their second instalment of the Monthly Markets with Tom & Mick. 

The fellas sit down with Joel Fleming, Director at Nutrien Harcourts and Livestock and Equine agent, to understand the trends in performance horse sales over the last couple of years and into the future.

They cover:

• Affects of rainfall on the sector and oat planting
• Nutrien Classic Sale - read more here: Nutrien Classic Sale Report 
• Purchases of performance horses as not just a lifestyle but a profession
• What is driving the horse market year to year?
• The growth of performance horse sales per person - from owning one to owning several
• Joel's predictions of where the EYCI number will be by Christmas

On the 21st to 22nd of February we were at evokeAG 'Down to Earth' 2023 in Adelaide, the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. It was a wonderful two day event and we wanted to bring a piece of it to you!

At the conference, we got the chance to sit down with Belinda Allitt, the General Manager of Communications & Capacity Building, at Agrifutures Australia. She's been working with AgriFutures for over six years and we wanted to hear all about the work that went into bringing this conference together, what they were hoping to achieve, and what's coming up for them next.

Belinda answers these questions in the weeks ep:

• How was she feeling at the end of day two of evokeAG 2023?
• After three years of conference cancellations, how have the team stayed motivated?
• Why does evokeAG exist?
• What are evokeAG going to do between now and the next conference to gain momentum?
• Where do they find their Future Young Leaders?
• What can she tell us about evokeAG 2024?

Check out these links for more info:
https://evokeag.com/
https://agrifutures.com.au/

Meet Richard Mussell.

He is the CEO of RSPCA Australia and has been since January 2020.

The RSPCA is known for being committed to improving the welfare of millions of animals across Australia. The RSPCA has been operating for over 150 years, and RSPCA Approved has been part of the organisation for 25 years now. There’s a lot to learn when it comes to how the RSPCA implements higher animal welfare standards, and we’re hoping we can ask some of the questions you want answered. 

We sat down with Rich to understand more about how the organisation operates. 

In this chat Richard talks to:

• What is the RSPCA?
• Animal Welfare policy in agriculture
• How does the RSPCA affect change in the animal welfare space?
• Education resources provided by the RSPCA
• How is the RSPCA funded?
• RSPCA wanting to see improvements across companion, farm and wild animals
• How can the broader community see the work of RSPCA?
• The collaborative process between RSPCA and producers for RSPCA Approved
• Has there been a shift in the publics interest in animal welfare?
• Why does Richard work at the RSPCA?

https://www.rspca.org.au/ 

John Mellowes saw an opportunity with wood vinegar, little did he know it would change the course of his life's work.

A civil engineer by trade, he and his business partner, Chad, began their journey with PyroAg about eight years ago and throughout that time they have discovered the many uses that pyrolyzed (don't worry, we'll explain that in the episode) wood chips can have.

Whether you've heard of wood vinegar or not, it's definitely one to get across and hopefully you come away from this ep with some answers but also lots of curiosity!

 John answers these questions in the episode:

• What is John's background and how does it intertwine with agriculture?
• What is PyroAg?
• How do you take a waste product and turn it into a high value good of a different kind?
• Is one byproduct of the pyrolysis process better or are all the byproducts beneficial?
• If you had 10 tonnes of input (wood/green waste), what does that look like in terms of output?
• What kind of volumes are going through the process at the moment and where do you source the input from?
• How much does wood vinegar cost?
• How much wood vinegar do farmers buy?
• How is wood vinegar applied?
• How are you making sure the product is safe for use on crops?
• What are the benefits to the soil and what are you learning about microbial activity?
• Where do you see PyroAg in 10 years?

It looks like a lot... but trust us, it's all in this 15 minute ep so let's get into it!

https://www.pyroag.com/ 

Meet Dwain Duxon, Founder and CEO of Farm Tender.

Dwain saw a gap in the market - literally - and launched an online marketplace for the buying and selling of "everything to do with agriculture."

Farm Tender markets to over 60,000 members on their website: https://www.farmtender.com.au/ and in this episode Dwain tells us all about what it's been for him to get off the tools and onto selling them.

Dwain answers these questions:

• What is Farm Tender?
• Why did Dwain start Farm Tender in 2012?
• What have been the highlights in the business over the past decade?
• Why didn't Farm Tender take in the US?
• Did his stint in the US make Dwain more passionate about Australian ag?
• How do you build relationships while working remotely?
• What's next for Farm Tender?
• What is Delay Pay, how can it benefit farmers and is there an upper limit on borrowing?
• The who, what, when, where, why for The Business of Farming: Farm Tender 2023 Conference

https://www.farmtender.com.au/ 

*Spoiler Alert*  Did you know that no meat chickens in Australia are grown using hormones?

Well, Talulah Gaunt - Manager of RSPCA Approved - did, and she knows a whole lot more too.

This weeks episode is a follow up to our This Is Aussie Ag: Higher Animal Welfare in Meat Chickens video, and we ask Talulah all the questions that came off the back of watching the vid.

You might have heard her own story on Humans of Agriculture, but today she's here to flex her animal welfare knowledge muscle, and we can't wait for you to learn along with us.

Questions answered by Talulah:

• Are hormones used anywhere in chicken production?
• How much of the chicken industry is farmed under high welfare standards, RSPCA or otherwise?
• What is the difference between RSPCA approved versus general production?
• How do random assessments of RSPCA approved farms work?
• If a farm is RSPCA approved, do they have to follow the standards all the way through the life of the animal?
• Why do some chickens have missing feathers?
• Are antibiotics and other medicines used on chickens?
• Why do some birds sit with their legs outstretched?

Wow we sure do cover a lot in not even 14 minutes!

If you would like to learn more, visit https://rspcaapproved.org.au/