Western Australia Country Hour

A high profile farmer from the wheatbelt says it's tragic that a global certification system has approved a modification for WA growers that is more lenient on the rules around aerial spraying.

The WA Livestock Exporters Association says a proposal to reduce the moratorium period on the live sheep trade by sea this year could see an extra 20-thousand head shipped out of Western Australia, but that comes with a number of caveats.

Over the weekend, a convoy of 8 trucks loaded with fodder travelled from Esperance on the south coast to stations based in the Mid West and Gascoyne.

Rural news and events from Western Australia and the nation.

One of the organisers of a dry season update meeting held in the state's south west yesterday says he was very pleased to see hundreds of farmers at the event, but was disappointed no one from the state government attended.

Over 200 people from 10 different shires attended a dry season update at Yornup, 270 kilometres south of Perth in the state's south-west, this morning.

Woolworths and Coles executives have been grilled in Canberra today at a Senate Select Committee inquiry on supermarket prices. 

The state government has established a dry season taskforce to help address the challenging seasonal conditions.

Tassal is best known for farming salmon in Tasmania but it's moved into prawns in New South Wales and north Queensland and has now bought up big in Western Australia's Kimberley region. It has options to expand but some locals are uneasy at that prospect.

Farmers happily travel hundreds of kilometres a week to play in the Old Fellas Football League.

Farmers are worried any changes to the Working Holiday Maker visas will create a labour shortage crisis reminiscent of the COVID years.

Grain Producers Australia is stepping-up its campaign against the introduction of a biosecurity levy, which the federal government plans to introduce to protect the country from threats such as foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever.

Thousands of Australian sheep and cattle onboard a live export ship have arrived in Israel, more than three months after it first set sail.

With some areas of the state experiencing some of the driest conditions in memory, and the grain growing season just around the corner, long range weather forecasts are indicating the remainder of April will be dry in the southern half of WA. 

Excessive rain and a strict eight week planting window for Bollgard 3 cotton imposed by Bayer has made it very difficult for Kununurra cotton growers to plant enough of their crops in time. 

Indya Blake's family ran Giralia Station in the Gascoyne for close to a hundred years. They were asked to leave in 2022. Indya says she went back there recently and was shocked to see the state of it.   

Seeding has now started in Western Australia, but it sounds like it's mainly farmers in the more reliable rainfall areas that are willing to plant so early into very dry soils.  

Today you'll find out what people in the wine industry think of China dropping heavy tariffs and those in the fishing industry are hoping tariffs on crays get lifted soon.  

Have you ever wondered what biochar is and why some soil scientists are excited about it? If so, today's show is for you.    

A farmer in Western Australia's mid west has had enough of the way, he says, he's being treated by oil and gas giant Mitsui, so he's temporarily locked his gates.