The week’s top stories (week ending 06/02/18)
Every week, AUSVEG rounds up the top stories on issues affecting the Australian vegetable industry. Here are this week’s most important news items:
- John Lloyd to retire after steering Australian horticulture through major changes (Sarina Locke, ABC Rural)
- Cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie failed to disclose free travel to campaign for Barnaby Joyce (Brett Worthington, ABC Rural)
- Fruit fly alert: Produce taken outside exclusion zones seized by authorities (ABC News)
- Tasmania’s fruit fly response to include stricter measures in control zone, help for growers (Henry Zwartz, ABC News)
- Fruit fly alert: ‘We’re absolutely going to destroy these buggers’ vows Tasmanian Government (ABC News)
- Fruit fly spike in Queensland mangoes prompts import rethink by South Australian authorities (Charlie McKillop and Marty McCarthy, Queensland Country Hour)
- Agtech startups sprouting (The Border Mail)
- ‘Arrogant’ Australia risks scaring-off foreign investors wanting farmland as new reforms favour local bidders (Marty McCarthy, ABC Rural)
- Banana industry launches aerial assault on feral pigs to save farms from Panama Tropical Race 4 (Tom Major, ABC Rural)
- Leyonhjelm: reinstating APVMA board to cure “chronic complaints” (Colin Bettles, Queensland Country Life)
- SwarmFarm seeks $14m to help robotic cropping unit launch (Andrew Marshall, Farm Online)
- Global fert prices rebound, but Aussie farmers spend up (Andrew Marshall, Farm Online)
- Mango marketing is paying off (Good Fruit & Vegetables)
This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 6 February 2018.