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Dec 5, 2024 | 
netimes.com.au | Michael Burt
This story is part of our feature series on Building the REZ in the New England. Read more from this series here. Agrivoltaics is emerging as an important compromise for the land use conflict between farmers and solar energy developments in Australia.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
netimes.com.au | Michael Burt
Landholders in NSW are set to reap the biggest economic benefit from the renewable energy shift according to a new report commissioned by Farmers for Climate Action (FCA). The ‘Billions in the bush: Renewable energy for regional prosperity’ report predicts farmers and landholders in NSW will have received up to $3.4 billion in payments by 2050 from developers.
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Nov 2, 2024 | 
netimes.com.au | Michael Burt
An idea spawned more than 30 years ago to build a hydroelectric scheme in the upper Macleay River region is set to become reality as part of the New England REZ. One of the lesser known and less visible projects in the REZ, the Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy project is in the final stages of the cumbersome Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process with construction expected to begin next year.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
shu.edu | Michael Burt
Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology is pleased to welcome Jamie Boulding, Ph.D., as an assistant professor of systematic theology with a specialization in theology and science, starting in Fall 2024. Boulding joins Seton Hall as an innovation hire, a position created by the Office of the Provost to help promote interdisciplinary research, teaching, and service across Seton Hall.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Stephen Mudd
Jeremy Clarkson has become a celebrity farming hero in the UK for exposing the realities of running a farm as a business in the hit show Clarkson’s Farm. In Season Three, Clarkson sets himself a ‘farming the unfarmed’ challenge to earn more from feral deer, pigs, goats, mushrooms and nettles on unproductive parts of his farm than from traditional cropping operations. “It’s good for the deer. It’s good for the trees.
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Apr 15, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Michelle Hespe
Calls from NSW Farmers members for more resources to combat an explosion in feral pig numbers were heeded at last year’s NSW Farmers Annual Conference. The State Government announced an $8 million boost for a control program that has removed almost 50,000 pigs from the landscape since October 2023. The state’s first Feral Pig Coordinator, Bec Gray, is spearheading the charge to reach the Feral Pig Program’s target of 87,000 feral pig kills by July this year.
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Apr 15, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Michelle Hespe
The Farmer exposed the unfair market conditions faced by Australia’s chicken meat farmers back in 2020. A lack of processor competition and market transparency had led to the collapse of eight family chicken farms in the Northern Rivers region and a concerted effort for industry change has begun. Four years on and most chicken meat farmers still have zero processor competition and zero bargaining power, but the push for fairer market conditions has gained momentum in recent months.
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Apr 15, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Michelle Hespe
NSW Farmers members are a diverse bunch of food and fibre producers. Very few, however, would claim Viking heritage or growing up on Icelandic farms and fishing boats like Gustaf and Siggi Ragnarsson from Coffs Harbour. Gustaf and Siggi have been teaching the Viking way of preserving food with a no-waste approach to processing meat as a business opportunity for farmers in NSW for the past 15 years.
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Feb 18, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Michelle Hespe
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing a big seasonal change in the world of weather forecasting. Machine learning-based systems can now make accurate 10-day forecasts in minutes and could soon play a role in the all-important predictions of El Niño and La Niña. Artificial Intelligence may not have the ability to predict what many farmers across NSW would describe as the state’s wettest drought in recent months, but it is fast becoming a new advisor for weather forecasters.
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Feb 18, 2024 | 
thefarmermagazine.com.au | Michael Burt |Michelle Hespe
Drone swarm technology that mimics birds and bees is coming to agriculture as part of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Advances in AI and drone components have made nature-inspired swarms possible – and the applications for agriculture are seemingly endless. Imagine swarms of insect-sized drones capable of pollinating flowers using simulated bee fur and AI technology to avoid obstacles, or a flock of drones sent in to target a disease outbreak in an apple orchard. Imagine no more.
