Latest Program Transcripts
07/03/2010
Drought Relief
By now you would have seen some dramatic images of the runoff from monsoonal rains that have swept large parts the nation. There have been colossal falls through summer and they've continued into autumn. Megan Woodward reports on the latest from the Gulf.
Burke firm on drought relief funding stance
Drought relief has certainly been front of mind in Canberra this week and the Agriculture Minister had a fairly blunt assessment of the effectiveness of interest rate subsidies in the mix of measures to help farmers through tough times. Predictably there have been howls of protest in some quarters but Tony Burke told Kerry Lonergan he won't duck the hard decisions on funding future drought relief just to curry favour even in an election year.
ABARE Outlook
Autumn is traditionally a time for those paid to think seriously about Australian agriculture's short to medium terms prospects. Interest rates aside, the outlook at ABARE’s annual Conference was generally positive. Our own commodities analyst Kerry Lonergan has been crunching some of those numbers and shining some light on the dark science that is agricultural economics.
Bigger Fish to Fry
Aquaculture might seem like a simple solution to the global decline in wild fish stocks. However the problem is the most popular farmed fish species need to eat fish or at least fish oil to get the healthy ingredients which make them such an important part of the human diet. Right now there's a global search for new sustainable alternatives and some of the most promising research is being done right here in Australia.
Rural News
Updated: 09/03/2010
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