The week’s top stories (week ending 12/02/19)
Every week, AUSVEG rounds up the top stories on issues affecting the Australian vegetable industry. Here are this week’s most important news items:
Australian industry:
- Solarised sandy soils shorten Salmonella survival (Good Fruit & Vegetables)
- Farmers to work with specialised agricultural bankers (Jessica McGrath, South Burnett Times)
- Banks told to scrap ‘despicable’ penalties (Daniel McCulloch, news.com.au/AAP)
- North Queensland flood victims need banks and insurers to be ‘good corporate citizens’, Deputy Premier says (ABC News)
- Flood-hit Queensland supported by generous Victorian farmers (Sophie Welsh, Sunday Herald Sun)
- Queensland flooding takes a toll on many as rain brings mixed reactions from farmers (Tom Major, ABC Rural)
- Jaclyn Symes refuses to divulge “opinion” on activist group Aussie Farms (Chantelle Francis, The Weekly Times)
- Fears of reprisal if farmers speak out (Aidan Smith, Farm Weekly)
- Growers participate in survey to help reveal labour shortages (Amelia Pepe, The Weekly Times)
- Bundaberg sweetpotato grower seeks out soil efficiencies with controlled release fertilisers (Good Fruit & Vegetables)
- Zero tolerance: imported risks in luggage threaten Australian farming (Mirage News)
- Weeds cost farmers $4.8 billion per year: new report (Queensland Country Life)
- Bayer blasts European regulators as it looks to boost R&D in Australia (Brad Thompson, Australian Financial Review)
- Study establishes new method of developing disease-resistance in crops (Food & Beverage)
- Veggie grower limited by winter shutdown (Country News)
- Power plant that turns green waste into energy could solve power reliability in regions (Joanna Prendergast, Landline)
- Coles launches ‘Stikeez’ campaign to get kids eating fruit and veg (Veronika Hleborodova, Canstar Blue)
- We can have urbanisation and enough to eat (Dr Nerissa Hannink, University of Melbourne)
- Lessons to be learnt from strawberry sabotage crisis, including central agency to oversee communication (Jennifer Nichols, ABC Rural)
- How Northern Territory mangoes went from luxury item to household staple (Kristy O’Brien and Anna Levy, Landline)
- Native bushfood growers passionate about increasing consumer awareness of fruits’ health benefits (Jessica Schremmer, ABC Rural)
International news:
- Germany: Photo report: Horticulture at Fruit Logistica 2019 (Arlette Sijmonsma, HortiDaily)
- UK: Lincoln to launch world’s first Centre for Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics (Elizabeth Allen, University of Lincoln)
- UK: On rooftops and in tunnels, city farms lead food revolution (James Tapper, The Guardian)
- The Netherlands: Could hi-tech Netherlands-style farming feed the world? (John Laurenson, DW)
- USA: Harris Moran-8849 chosen to be 2019 ‘rodeo tomato’ (HortiDaily)
- Japan: Mom-friendly farm makes high-end cherry tomatoes shine (Maya Kaneko, Kyodo News)
This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 12 February 2019. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!