November 2024
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Beef Battle winners
Women In Agriculture
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PAGES 16 -17
Good crop As cotton crops emerge from the ground in Queensland’s Central Highlands, growers are cautiously confident abot the impending season. Emerald grower and Cotton Australia Board chair Nigel Burnett said with carryover from last season - and a welcome allocation from Fairbairn Dam - growers are positive. “We had unseasonal rainfall in August and that enabled a good chunk of the area to be moisture planted, saving farmers from the initial flush-up irrigation and those crops are now out of the ground and looking very good. “Since planting, the conditions have been warming up and growers are confident about the prospects for the season at this stage. “I have planted more than 700 hectares so far and if there’s more rainfall over the coming weeks and months, I would look at planting more cotton into late October, November or even December.” STORY PAGE 4
Sunshine Sugar sugar cane farmer John Harbison, Norco dairy farmer Andrew Wilson, Norco chief executive officer Michael Hampson, Sanitarium Health Food Company executive general manager Todd Saunders and Sanitarium wheat farmer Kate Gunn. (Supplied)
United front Bosses behind iconic Australian brands WeetBix, SPC, Mayver’s peanut butter, Norco milk and Sunshine Sugar have united to urge consumers to look beyond the “Australian made” logo to prevent profits being “siphoned offshore” and keep local farmers in jobs. Farmer-owned dairy cooperative Norco found through its research that four in five shoppers (81 per cent) actively bought products from an overseas company, believing it was Australian-owned.
It said, despite the cost-of-living crisis, Aussie shoppers remained as passionate as ever about supporting Australian brands and hard-working Aussie farmers. Close to a third (30 per cent) of shoppers have increased their support for (what they believe to be) Australian brands and products over the past two years, with many prepared to pay more if they think the money remains in Australia or goes back to supporting hardworking Aussie farmers
and their communities. However, mass confusion exists in the marketplace, with an overwhelming number of Aussie shoppers unknowingly buying foreign-owned products in their attempt to buy ‘Aussie owned’. This has prompted a coalition of Aussie food businesses to join forces to educate on what constitutes Australian owned. COVERAGE PAGES 2-3
Top award Leather Cattle Co, a grassfed and EU certified humane cattle enterprise from central Queensland, has been awarded the Success Through Collaboration award at the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Success Through Collaboration Award is given to the business that best exemplifies the foundational principles and goals of Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and drives collaborative efforts to advance beef sustainability. For Melinee and Rob Leather, who own and operate Leather Cattle Co, evidence of the relationship between environmental health and the prosperity of grazing enterprises drives them to prioritise and invest in sustainability across their beef business. STORY PAGE 7
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