Woolgrowers are about to receive their Woolpoll 2021 voter information kit, which will help them decide how much of their wool income they'd like to direct to AWI to invest in R&D and marketing. Australian Wool Innovation runs the Woolpoll every three years. The current levy is set at 1.5 per cent, but AWI is recommending a two per cent levy rate.

In 2018 the federal government pledged to plant a billion plantation trees across Australia this decade. It's been exactly three years since that promise and so far, tree plantings have totalled less than one per cent of that figure.

In the Northern Territory, Australia's biggest mango producer has arranged for his seasonal workers from Vanuatu to quarantine here in WA.

One of the state's largest citrus producers says it's about thirty per cent behind on its international export program, due to delays in global container shipping.

Covid restrictions don't seem to hampering mineral exploration in Australia. The latest figures show it's up thirty three per cent on last year. Warren Pearce is head of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies and is confident the growth will continue.

The parents of a pearl diver who died in 2012 on his second day of work off the coast of Broome say they're extremely disappointed proposed new safety regulations have not been adopted by the pearl diving industry.

WA's biggest crop dusting business Dunn Aviation has secured approvals for three pilots to enter WA and help keep up with the demand from grain growers. A lot of the demand is for aerial drops of mouse baits, but there are also a lot of calls for aerial applications of insecticides and fertiliser.

Farmers not only need to be keeping an eye out for mice, there are also some locusts about this season. Svetlana Micic is an entomologist at DPIRD. She says the locusts should be hatching now and are likely to be found across a huge part of WA's agricultural zone.

It's been talked about for years and now it's become a reality, with confirmation that Brazil has loaded a live export ship with about fourteen thousand bulls, bound for Vietnam.

The federal government will extend assistance to Australian exporters that rely on air freight to deliver fresh produce to the world, until at least the middle of next year. The International Freight Assistance Mechanism was introduced when Australia closed its borders last year, heavily constricting the number of flights in and out of the country.

Jamie Michael is one of WA's largest strawberry growers, and international exports are a big part of his business. He says the IFAM system has been a lifeline.

WA grain growers are frustrated with the time it's taking to finalise costings to quarantine several hundred skilled harvest workers from the northern hemisphere at Bladin Village in the NT.

Retired servicemen and women are being called into service again .. this time to help harvest the grain crop. It's called Operation Grain Harvest Assist and two Facebook pages have been created, one for WA and SA and one for Queensland, NSW and Victoria, to link former ADF personnel with grain growers struggling to find workers to get the crop off. Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidermann says the response from the ADF has been overwhelming.

Meanwhile the state agriculture minister is still pursuing the Bladin Village option in the Northern Territory as a possible solution to quarantine workers from the northern hemisphere to help with the WA grain harvest. Alannah MacTiernan says Bladin Village could cater for two or three planeloads of people, or between 300 to 600 workers. She says the sticking point at this stage is finding the appropriate staff to run the facility.

In the lead up to this season's grain harvest, there's a call today for a "No Jab No Tip" policy at grain receival sites throughout the wheatbelt.

Western Australia's largest citrus producer has welcomed news that WA mandarins and oranges could soon be exported to United States. After ten years of negotiations, the US's plant health inspection service has agreed to review its requirements for importing fresh citrus from Australia and that could open the door for WA fruit.

Wheat Quality Australia has announced the first new milling wheat class since deregulation in 2008.It's called Australian White Wheat and it's perfect for making instant noodles.

There is a new world winter barley yield record. Tim Lamyman from Lincolnshire in the UK has recorded a yield of 14.2 tonnes to the hectare, beating the old record of 13.8 tonnes per hectare by New Zealander Warren Darling.

The livestock export transport company Wellard has recorded a Net Profit After Tax of $1.9 million US dollars, up from a $200, 000 profit the previous year. It's been a challenging year for the WA based agribusiness with one vessel, the MV Ocean Ute, in extended dry dock and the sudden, temporary closure of the New Zealand live export industry, after the tragic sinking and loss of life on the Gulf Livestock 1. The downturn in cattle exports from northern Australia to Indonesia and Vietnam, also resulted in Wellard shipping a lot more breeder cattle to North Asia in the 2021 financial year.

The National Trade Lamb Indicator broke through the 950 cents a kilo barrier, eclipsing the 949 cent high point recorded in 2019 and 2020.

Australia could soon have a new agriculture visa but WA's grain farmers are not confident it will help get this year's crop off.

The big Fitzroy Crossing bull sale has been described as the best ever with record prices paid across the board.

Western Australian businessman Andrew Forrest has decided to hop on the front foot. He has taken out full page advertisements in prominent newspapers accusing meat processing giant JBS of not doing enough to improve animal welfare and the environment.

He has also made a pitch to work with the WA government to develop a land based Yellowtail Kingfish aquaculture precinct in Western Australia.

Today you'll get an insight into what he is up to.

The proposal to bring hundreds of skilled machinery operators from the northern hemisphere to WA for this season's grain harvest has taken another step forward. The federal agriculture minister says he's paved the way for WA to negotiate with the Northern Territory to allow up to 700 workers to quarantine at a former detention centre near Darwin.

The NT's Agriculture Minister says the Bladin Village deal is not locked in. Nicole Manison says WA's labour shortage issue is not the NT's top priority.

Queensland's horticulture industry is calling for the new ag visa for ten South East Asian Countries to meet the needs of small to medium growers.