Toyota Huski skid steer helping Melbourne Zoo elephants
A new Toyota Huski 5SDK8 skid steer loader is working hard at Melbourne Zoo moving materials around to keep the zoo’s Asian Elephants stimulated and to encourage their natural behaviours. The work is part of an enrichment program at Zoos Victoria, which includes keeper Chris Lekos who is part of the passionate elephant team providing […]
Make a new date for all Field Days – 2021
If you’ve been following the fate of one of Australia’s biggest Field Days, AgQuip, held at Gunnedah NSW, it just about sums up the tale of all Field Days for 2020. AgQuip has now been cancelled for 2020 but as recently as early May the organisers made a bold bid to reschedule the event from […]
Agrifac factory scores top marks for sustainability
Sustainability is a core objective of the Agrifac sprayers business and the company recently took a big step in that direction with its new manufacturing facility achieving an impressive 97.38 per cent score with the international BREEAM assessment programme. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is an assessment method for determining the sustainability performance […]
Sustainable irrigation pumping solutions
With optimising water and energy use critical concerns for irrigators, innovations in pumping technology are welcome developments in the sector. Increasing adoption is also bringing prices down, allowing more operations to access technologies like variable frequency drives (VFDs) and solar pumps. Franklin Electric is one of the leading suppliers in this area and its DrivE-Tech […]
K-Line Crop Cadet a top solution for direct drilling pasture
Building a successful small diversified or mixed farming operation, requires careful management of the grazing crops and livestock the farm produces. The proper balance of crop types and the optimal use of cropping tools and implements can provide farmers and graziers numerous benefits as well as more flexible management of their operations. Getting an optimal […]
Egg supply steady as demand spikes
Australian egg farmers are keen to reassure customers there is no need to fear egg shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers have limited egg purchases alongside other household staples in response to panic buying but any absence of eggs in stores is purely demand driven, and not a reflection of the continuity of supply. […]
Plant-based meat promoters forecast a $3 billion market by 2030
Promoters of plant-based meat suggest the sector could be worth up to $3 billion to Australia’s economy and generate thousands of jobs by 2030. That prediction is at the top end of economic modelling commissioned by Food Frontier, a think tank dedicated to advancing the interests of alternative protein producers. The findings show Australia’s plant-based […]
John Deere lays off staff as COVID-19 hits harder in the US
John Deere has paused production at its Davenport and Dubuque, Iowa, plants and is laying off 159 workers. The reduction follows layoffs of 105 workers in Dubuque earlier this year. Both facilities manufacture construction and forestry products, which Deere had projected a 10 to 15 per cent reduction in net sales worldwide for that segment […]
Komatsu pro-actively responds to pandemic
Komatsu is a major supplier of below and above ground heavy machinery and during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic it has seen a greater emphasis on agile supply chain methods, a ramping up of E-commerce ordering, greater reliance on sophisticated machine monitoring allied to customer support centres, and the flexible deployment of key staff […]
Report identifies livestock opportunities and challenges
At the 2020 ABARES (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences) Outlook conference a key theme was boosting Australian agricultural production to $100 billion over the next decade. To get there, biosecurity throughout the supply chain was seen as a major contributor to protecting agricultural production. The ability for Australian food to command […]