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Andrew Mole

Poh, Murray add almonds glitz

NEW Australian Almonds ambassador Poh Ling Yeow will add an element of glitz as the industry pushes hard to increase its market share this year. The Almond Board of Australia has gone nuts about her appointment and the high-profile celebrity chef...

11 hours ago

North West Farmer

There are very few who are busier

When it comes to Sunraysia horticulture, no matter how big the business, much of it is incredibly reliant on one of the smallest inputs available. The bee. More precisely, the incredibly efficient and effective European honeybee (Apis mellifera).Which...

11 hours ago

Dryland Farming

Free spray day for Mallee farmers

NATIONAL peak industry body GrainGrowers are teaming up with the Birchip Cropping Group to stage a free spray application for Mallee producers on Tuesday. The workshop will be headed by Craig Day from Spray Safe & Save, who has been running spray...

09 Nov 2024

Education

Filling gaps for a farming future

NARRAPORT’S Bill Lee took a fairly short round trip on his way to a Bachelor of Agriculture at the University of Melbourne and back to the family farm. He took a gap year where he spent six months working on the farm and another...

19 Oct 2024

Opinion

You protest too much, methinks

THE old Whacker has been known to make the odd protest or two over the years (very odd, some have suggested).Such as the times (and this is an ongoing almost-annual outrage) the local agent tells me my selling fees have to go up. Again. Then there was...

19 Oct 2024

Livestock

Broad-ribbon bonanza for Tamaleuca

OUYEN-based Poll Merino stud Tamaleuca is on a roll. Coming off the back of a rock-solid annual on-property ram sale in August, it has now swept through the showring at the Adelaide Royal and come home with the reserve grand champion Poll Merino...

19 Oct 2024

Dryland Farming

Farming a fair-dinkum balancing business

THERE was a critical message for participants at the 2024 Birchip Cropping Group’s Main Field Day at Nullawil, south of Robinvale, this week. Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre chief economist Professor Ross Kingwell told them “the most...

19 Oct 2024

Other

Ploughing through the cropping-information overload

In many ways, our growers should not be relying so heavily on spraying providing all the solutions. For example, if you have signs of disease at the tillering stage, it is something of a Catch-22: you need to do the maths to see if...

19 Oct 2024

Wine Grapes

Hardly springing into the spring

SPRING has certainly sprung, but in some ways it is a little bit too early, with grapevines emerging ahead of schedule. This comes on top of our protracted dry conditions, which is leaving us exposed to frost damage. We managed to escape any serious...

19 Oct 2024

North West Farmer

Win some, lose some weather-wise

DRY weather is bad for crops – but very good for calving cows. We have had a bit of both lately so, effectively, by lying to myself I am always able to be convinced the glass is half full and we are winning. Yes, our dryland crops might be stuffed...

19 Oct 2024

Livestock

Get rams ready

WITH the ram selling season now in full swing across the Mallee and northwest Victoria and Elders’ Swan Hill livestock specialist Matt Rowlands explains how you can make sure your rams are in tip top condition ready for joining. The success of any...

19 Oct 2024

North West Farmer

Industry guru Dr Grant Hollaway explains rust protection

IF you thought rust decisions are all about rain in your crop – think again. Heat is just as big a problem. And industry guru Dr Grant Hollaway will be explaining where it can all go wrong for you when he attends the annual Birchip Cropping Group...

21 Sep 2024