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Jess Malcolm

Harvest incentives fail to win over Victorian workers

FEWER than 200 people have taken up the Federal Government’s cash payment incentive aimed at attracting jobseekers to rural areas to undertake farm work, prompting a national campaign to fill a 26,000-worker shortfall in the agricultural sector.

07 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Sunraysia anglers get back into Murray cod chase

AFTER a three-month prohibition, anglers have been let off the hook this week and are now free to fish iconic Murray cod.

06 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Chickpea harvest stands out in strong forecast

SUNRAYSIA chickpea grower James O’Day is anticipating a bumper chickpea crop off the back of last year, in which he harvested nothing.

05 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Cash boost for Mallee agricultural shows

MALLEE agricultural shows are set to receive a slice of Federal Government funding to help them get back in their feet after COVID-19.

05 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Funds set for fish passage at Darling weirs

THE Federal Government has announced it will provide $1.1 million to improve the diversity and abundance of native fish in the Murray-Darling Basin..

05 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

China tactics leading Sunraysia to ruin, says grower

VICTORIAN Farmers Federation (VFF) Sunraysia branch spokesman Bill McClumpha says Sunraysia wine growers are “looking down the barrel of ruin” amid the Federal Government’s failed attempts this week to get China to back down on new tariffs on Australian wine.

04 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Grant gives a push to table grape market access

THE Federal Government has given the national peak table grape body more than $600,000 in a bid to help the industry pivot to new markets amid increasingly volatile trade relations with China.

04 Dec 2020

Farming and Environment

Livestock heat stress risk rises for Mallee transporters

SUNRAYSIA stockers are being warned to take extra precautions this summer when transporting animals, regardless of distance.

04 Dec 2020

Politics

Wine producers cop new China export hit

THE Chinese Government will place up to 200 per cent tariffs on Australian wine, bringing one of Australia’s largest wine producers to a stock exchange trading halt and sending producers scrambling. Friday’s announcement is the latest...

29 Nov 2020

Lifestyle

Mildura garden goes from a chore to a passion

THE sound of Young Talent Time booming from the television on a Sunday used to be music to Toni Spooner’s ears, signalling the reprieve from a day’s work out in the garden for her mother.

29 Nov 2020

Farming and Environment

Safer harvest comes from Ouyen grower’s fire scare

WHEN Ouyen grain grower Ian Hastings fell into what he describes as a “wall of fire”, he thought it was going to be the end of his life.

28 Nov 2020

Farming and Environment

Mallee croppers do groundwork on light soils

APOCALYPTIC scenes of orange Mildura skies are still fresh in the minds of residents whose homes were blanketed by multiple severe dust storms last year.

28 Nov 2020