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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Meg Powell |Brandon Long
Bootmaking used to be one industry with many local players, with RM Williams, Blundstone, Rossi and other brands manufacturing in Australia for a world market. Economics has meant bootmaking locally is not viable for many larger companies, most of which get their products made elsewhere. Some smaller bootmakers continue with the old manufacturing traditions, but it is a dying art.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Jennifer Nichols |Brandon Long
Nick Colquhoun fought off a snake and spiders as he worked to free a prized bull caught in fencing in Woodford's post-cyclone flooding. The clean-up has only just started in Lockyer Valley. Queensland's Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett encouraged farmers to complete a Disaster Impact Survey. Nick Colquhoun was acting on adrenaline when he plunged in with wire cutters to free a prized stud Droughtmaster bull drowning before his eyes.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Brandon Long
Once the realm of regional heartlands like Tamworth and Gympie, country music has now hit the mainstream.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Jennifer Nichols |Maddelin McCosker |Brandon Long
An outbreak of the world's deadliest bee parasite, varroa destructor mite, has been found less than 5 kilometres from the Queensland border — the closest detection to date. The hives in three apiaries near Boggabilla, south-east of Goondiwindi, were identified last week during a surveillance check by officers from both the New South Wales and Queensland Departments of Primary Industries.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Elly Bradfield |Brandon Long
Doug Browne was just 16 years old when his father died, his formal school years ended, and he took over the family farm at Springvale on Queensland's Western Downs. Decades later at almost 79 years of age, he is among the "Springvale Four" — a group of farmers fighting a coal seam gas development affecting that land. "Very personal. It's been my life's work," Mr Browne said.
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Dec 20, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | James Taylor |Peter Sanders |Brandon Long
South-east Queensland regions are facing significant repair bills and loss of income after relentless heavy rain over the past 10 days. In the Wide Bay Region, 400 kilometres north of Brisbane, falls of 238 millimetres were recorded at Hervey Bay, 207 at Maryborough and 199 millimetres at Bundaberg and Mundubbera in the seven days to 9am Friday.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Brandon Long
An investigation has been launched into labour-hire providers and farmers suspected of illegally exploiting workers in "Australia's salad bowl". Officers from federal government departments this week made surprise visits to seven operations around Gatton, west of Brisbane in the Lockyer Valley, including fruit and vegetable farms, after receiving an undisclosed number of tip offs from the community.
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Nov 9, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Brandon Long
David and Ros Sutton never expected to be farmers, fishers and fruit growers. They knew nothing about trawling and had never even seen an apple tree until they bought an orchard. But a devastating setback early in their careers switched their thinking and opened them up to change, making anything seem possible. "Our philosophy has always been: 'Sometimes, the less you know the better'," David said.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Brandon Long
Buying a kelpie pup that nobody wanted for $200 might be one of the best decisions Tom Perkins has ever made. The farmer, who paid well below the record high of $50,000 achieved by the breed last month, has just won a national working dog challenge with Bear. The farm dog blitzed the competition by running 570 kilometres — almost the distance between Brisbane and Rockhampton — in two weeks. Mr Perkins said he lucked out when he visited his go-to kelpie breeder six years ago.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Megan Hughes |Brandon Long
Pressure is mounting to get Australia's chickpea harvest into India before tariffs that could cost exporters more than half their profit kick back in. Exporter GrainCorp has loaded the first shipment of 31,000 tonnes of central Queensland-grown chickpeas in the port of Gladstone, about 500 kilometres north of Brisbane,It will make a stop further north in Mackay, where more chickpeas will be loaded before leaving for Asia.
