The Aussie Ag Update

Recently back from a trip to the UK and Europe to discuss Australian agriculture trade deals, Fiona Simson - National Farmers Federation President - sits down with us to discuss everything she talked about with some of the world's most influential people.

There's a lot of interesting points to understand about the Free Trade Agreement that's currently circulating between Australia and the UK, luckily Fiona has all the answers.

The questions answered by Fiona are:

• What was the purpose of her overseas trip?
• In the Australia and UK Free Trade Agreement, agriculture is front and centre, what's left to get us across the line?
• How quickly can we expect this to go ahead?
• Are there any sectors of Australian agriculture that may be disadvantaged by the Free Trade Agreement?
• How is the Australian agriculture industry perceived globally?
• How does Australia's climate change strategy the perception of Australian agriculture?

Welcome back to the In The Know On The Go podcast, designed to get you across the things that matter in Aussie agribusiness is a way that’s easy to understand.

This week we welcome Tom Rookyard and Mick Corcoran for their first segment, the Monthly Markets with Tom & Mick. 

The fellas sit down with Tim McRae, Chief Economist at AuctionsPlus to understand more about where livestock markets are heading in 2023 and beyond. 

They cover:

• AuctionsPlus 2023 Cattle Forecast, Read HERE. 
• Producers sell livestock for two reasons: No Grass or the need for income
• Pressure on the processing sector to maintain throughput as livestock slaughter numbers increase
• Where’s the bottom of the market? Tim thinks the second half of 2024 in a widespread context
• Tim’s eyes are on what the autumn (especially the autumn break does) and what is happening in colder areas around August/September 2023. 
• Why sheep markets are forecast like cattle, and a little insight into what’s included in Tim’s monthly sheep articles
• Tim’s insights into the sheep and lamb market this year
• Tim’s market tips include Lamb prices, Eastern Young Cattle Indicator figures and Mutton.

If you’ve got a market or idea you’d love to see discussed, please reach out to us at “[email protected]”

This week we catch up with LAWD CEO, Enda Foley.

Enda had always hoped to work as the CEO of a startup and after working internationally with large scale corporations, he found an opportunity at the growing business, LAWD. While he didn't have an agriculture background, he recognised the potential to capitalise on the expertise of those within the business as well as draw upon his leadership skills to keep driving the business forward.

In this episode we cover:

• Enda's career and journey to becoming LAWD CEO
• Managing and steadying the growth of a business
• The corporatisation of Australian agriculture
• 50% of agriculture development sits around Victoria
• The "Servant Leadership" approach

This episode is our final installation for the year, we've loved making these quick and easy informative episodes so thank you for listening along! Plenty more to come in 2023 - happy holidays everyone.

Back with weather legend Karl this week!

There is still a lot going on weather wise around the country, but don’t worry, Karl Lijnders is here again to explain what’s going on and give us an idea of what to expect in the coming months.

Joining us from Darwin, Karl tells us about the heatwaves in the North, the peak of the floods, a wet couple of months north of the Food Bowl and when we might expect drier conditions in the New Year. So while we have excessive water now, it’s advised to collate some of that water to help out in drier times in the next six months. 

In this episode we cover:

• The unprecedented flooding events
• Working our way out of the wet phase
• What are the predictions for the next months?
• 2022: Strange Year of Forecasting
• How is 2023 looking weather wise?

For more of Karl's weather, head to https://www.weathermatters.org/ 

This week we caught up with market analyst, Andrew Whitelaw, to get a grain update.

Andrew is the Founder and Director of Episode 3 (https://episode3.net/), and you may recognise him from the podcast, AgWatchers or from his Twitter, @Wheat_Watcher 

Key areas discussed:

- The latest of this seasons grain harvest
- Weekly grain receivals lower than drought
- The global outlook for next years grain prices
- Input costs and next seasons sowing 
- Impact of the Russia Ukraine War
- Australia's trade relations with China and India

It's budget week, for some people that means sleepless nights and for others - it's far easier to get access to the experts to talk us through what it means for us.

Today, we're joined by Georgie Aley, the Sector Lead for Agribusiness at KPMG. Georgie talks us through the key areas in this years National Budget, and what it means for agriculture.

Key areas discussed:

• Difference between Carbon and Biodiversity
• What the budget means on the ground for agriculture
• Climate front and centre in the budget
• $134.1m in Biosecurity funding over 4 years to support protection and traceability of Aussie Ag
• The budget and support for Regional Australia
• How does the budget reflect the importance of Agriculture to Australia?
• Government support for Natural Disasters

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Woweee it's all happening in Australia at the moment, to summarise Karl it's "Wet, Wet and Wet"....

There's potential for once in a generation flooding for Northern Victoria,  a wet summer ahead, struggle to get the headers on paddocks, early cyclone season - similar to the 1970s and an outlook at when it may ease and potential for drier times ahead into 2023. 

I'm joined by Karl to cover:

• Early onset of rainfall in Northern Australia (which is not good news)
• Major low system over southern Australia in the next week
• We talk about the rainfall in the short and medium term
• Will we get the crops off?
• What's the rest of 2022 looking like?
• Are we saying goodbye to La Nina?

For more of Karl's weather head to Weather Matters with Karl Lijnders. 

This week and for the fist episode in this series, we're sitting down with Col Medway, Col is a Senior Director with LAWD. LAWD are a rural real estate advisory and transactions business. 

We find out from Col the state of the rural real estate market and get answers to the following questions:
·       Where are the strongest performing regions and where are the lower or opportunistic regions

·       What’s the interest like from corporates and where are they buying

·       Where is the market heading?

·       Are there any emerging trends?

·       Are challenges emerging with the increasing cost of finance?

·       The northern development – what’s happening up there?

 If you enjoyed this chat we’d love for you to share it with others.
If you have any questions for Col please send either us a message or get in touch with them directly at lawd.com.au

www.humansofagriculture.com