The federal government’s approach for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has shifted again, and now favours water-saving infrastructure over purchasing water rights. But is it the right move? The new scheme…
Ancient woodlands and flower-rich meadows have disappeared to make way for agriculture and urbanisation, but attempts are being made to reverse the decline using “green” farming projects. The question…
A species of bee declared extinct in the UK almost 30 years ago is flying again – thanks in part to the efforts of farmers. Researchers have been restoring the short-haired bumblebee to Romney Marsh and…
A busy bee, giving free horticultural help by collecting pollen. But a tiny mite has devastated bee populations around the world – and it’s now on Australia’s doorstep.
David McClenaghan/CSIRO
A tiny mite has been killing honey bees all around the world, and will inevitably reach Australian shores. So what is this destructive mite, and what we can do to protect Australian honey bees? The Varroa…
Tasmania’s alkaloid poppy industry was an Australian innovation success story - until it moved overseas.
Glenn Schultes/Flickr
Australian innovation has stagnated in the past 50 years, and could be reinvigorated by focusing on key areas, according to Donald Hector, President of the Royal Society of New South Wales in an interview…
Peter Doherty: Thinking in terms of Australia’s future, how important is it for us to expand activity in the innovation/high technology sector? Donald Hector: It’s critically important. If you look at…
Most have heard of the Battle of Waterloo, but who has heard of the volcano called Tambora? No school textbook I’ve seen mentions that only two months before Napoleon’s final defeat in Belgium on June…
Falling food supply sees lunch breaks replaced by lunch riots.
Jon Hrusa/EPA
The global growth in demand for food is outstripping supply and by the middle of the century there will be about a third more mouths on the planet to feed. The world’s middle class is expected to rise…
Yields of crops such as maize are set to decline in response to 2C of global warming.
AAP
James Whitmore, The Conversation and Michael Hopkin, The Conversation
Climate change is already having a major impact on the planet, with impacts forecast to worsen significantly, according to the latest summary of peer-reviewed climate science from the Intergovernmental…
GM crops are grown without fuss around the world, just not the UK and Europe.
EPA/Shepherd Zhou
Many people, including me, are pretty fed up with the continuing fuss about GM food and crops. Are they too dangerous to eat? Are they a hazard to the environment? Despite a “debate” stretching back to…
If we tend to the local food industry, we could reap the harvest.
donkeycart/Flickr
While Australia’s national food and agriculture debate centres on boosting production and increasing exports, our local food industry is being neglected. That’s a shame because countries such as the United…
Abbott: One rule for farmers, another for manufacturers.
Andrew Meares/AAP
The announcement of drought relief funding for farmers by an Australian prime minister would not normally be a cause for surprise. But last week’s A$324 million drought package comes amid a concerted push…
The resurfacing of the idea of developing northern Australia is akin to making a sequel for an old cinema classic. It evokes familiarity and the repackaging of tested and yet-to-be tested concepts. It…
For millennia, humans have had the tools to change the atmosphere: when will we develop a sense of caution?
AK Rockefeller/Flickr
The era in which humans have had the power to alter the conditions for all life on Earth is widely thought to have begun with the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago. This era has been dubbed the “Anthropocene…
A dingo in the wild.
Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre
Dingoes are back in the news, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott raising concerns on ABC radio last week about dingoes in drought-hit areas of Queensland and New South Wales: I’d learnt some years ago on…
As prime minister Tony Abbott and his ministers tour drought-affected areas, the pressure is on Cabinet to cobble together a policy package in a hurry.
AAP/Paul Osborne
Australia’s National Drought Policy, introduced in 1992 and recognised internationally as world’s best practice, now appears to be dead. In its place we are seeing back-to-the-future policymaking. This…
In 2008, Chinese baby formula and milk products were tainted
with melamine, killing six babies and hospitalising many more.
EPA/Wu Hong
SPC Ardmona’s $22 million lifeline from the Victorian government seems to have saved Australia’s largest food packaging company. Yet the firm’s recent tribulations are a reminder of why I regularly choose…
Often called “Australia’s most valuable farm”, Cubbie Station in southwest Queensland is now majority foreign-owned.
AAP/Cubbie Group
When most Australians think about farmers, one image still springs to mind: a family in Akubras and Blundstones, battling the elements with a Blue Heeler by their side. That’s still the image invoked by…
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University