Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, says he sees higher returns from agriculture than other commodities, and expects more international turmoil as food prices continue to rise. “Agriculture prices are still, on a historic basis, extremely depressed, and in my view I’ll probably make more money in agriculture than other things,” Rogers told The Australian. [...]

The debate over genetically modified (GM) food has flared up again recently, after Greenpeace destroyed an experimental CSIRO wheat crop in Canberra on July 14. The Australian Federal Police is now investigating Greenpeace over the incident, which CSIRO scientists claim has set their research back by up to a year. Greenpeace argued the crop posed [...]

ANIMAL feeding trials have already been conducted on Genetically Modified wheat in Australia using rats in the past two or three years, while a pig trial was held earlier this year, according to CSIRO plant industry chief, Jeremy Burdon. Dr Burdon said data from the rat feeding trial had already been published and the pig [...]

AN ORGANIC farmer from Western Australia is preparing to sue his neighbour for contaminating his farm with GM canola. The Safe Food Foundation today announced it would help fund Kojonup farmer Steve Marsh’s legal battle after GM canola contaminated his farm late last year. The contamination resulted in the loss of his organic certification from [...]

Wheat output in Western Australia, which produces high-quality milling grain, is likely to double to around nine million tonnes this year following ideal crop weather, boosting prospects of wheat exports from the country in the coming marketing season. This has narrowed the spread between the nation’s west and east coast wheat to $13 a tonne, [...]

Mukesh Haikerwal knows all too well the danger of a food allergy. It was 14 years ago that the Melbourne GP and former president of the Australian Medical Association first recognised symptoms of anaphylaxis in his then one-year-old son. ”As a father it was horrendous,” he says. ”You have this child that won’t settle and [...]

A new proposal in Australia and New Zealand could see country of origin labelling extended to unpackaged meat products.   On July 18, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) called for submissions on the proposal, published on its website, to have country of originlabelling extended to unpackaged beef, sheep and chicken meat. In Australia and New [...]

Ausveg warns Australia’s food security is at risk unless protective measures are taken. Ausveg CEO Richard Mulcahy warns that Australia doesn’t have an infinite amount of agricultural resources and action needs to happen now to protect the security of Australia’s homegrown food supply. Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the New South Wales Farmer’s [...]

AUSTRALIA has agreed to a trial shipment of Philippine Carabao mangoes after years of lobbying by Filipino producers, the Agriculture Department said over the weekend. “We see this as a good sign, and we’re hoping that market acceptance will be good as well,” Bureau of Plant Industry Director Lito Baron told the Manila Standard. If [...]

RECENT supermarket price wars have started much public debate about the pressures on our farmers. At the same time there have been announcements of food processors closing down factories and moving offshore. These two issues are actually a manifestation of a fundamental structural shift that is occurring across the agrifood value chain. The past 30 [...]