The week’s top stories (week ending 02/10/18)
Every week, AUSVEG rounds up the top stories on issues affecting the Australian vegetable industry. Here are this week’s most important news items:
Australian industry:
- Nats play blame game over visa snub (Ben Packham, The Australian)
- Government dumps farm labour visa plan (Marnie Banger and Paul Osborne, AAP/news.com.au)
- Yarra Valley farmer says ag visa imperative for all growers (Alexandra Laskie, The Weekly Times)
- We’re surrounded by ads pushing junk food. So why aren’t there more ads promoting vegetables? (Yasmin Noone, SBS Food)
- Consumers pay a premium for ‘superfood’ latte trend (Alana Mitchelson, The New Daily)
- Drought policy is always fraught, but farmers say it’s broken (Michael Brissenden, ABC Four Corners)
- South Australian Government formally acknowledges drought for first time (Kath Sullivan, Cassandra Hough and Leonie Thorne, SA Country Hour)
- Women in the horticulture industry are being urged to apply for one of these scholarships (The Northern Daily Leader)
- Health services for rural Tasmanians tipped to worsen as demand rises and GPs leave (Manika Dadson, ABC News)
- Scientists now know why this orange turned purple out of the blue (Patrick Williams, ABC News)
- Bulk of Qld strawberry fund to ad campaign (Stuart Layt, AAP/news.com.au)
- Bookaar Solar Farm ‘the size of Camperdown’ rejected by cheering residents over ag land use issues (Matt Neal, ABC South West Vic)
International news:
- New Zealand: Tomato growers plan 24-hour strike in pursuit of living wage (John Anthony, Stuff.co.nz)
- New Zealand: First time detection of Potato Mop-Top Virus (MPTV) in New Zealand (PotatoPro)
- UK: Introducing the lettuce peeling robot (University of Cambridge)
- Canada: Pickles and promise: Ontario’s processing vegetable industry sees new investment (RealAgriculture)
- Canada: Ontario government to halt minimum wage hike set to kick in next year (Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press)
- Canada: Governments working to increase B.C. food exports to support communities at home (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
- Europe: EU agri-food exports continue to perform well (European Commission)
- France: Farmers fear labour cost rise (Tom Joyce, Eurofruit)
- South Africa: Woolworths pulls organic baby spinach from shelves (Wendy Knowler, TimesLIVE)
- USA: NC supplies the nation’s sweet potatoes. Florence has put this year’s crop in doubt. (Richard Stradling, The News & Observer)
This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 02 October 2018. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!