Agribusiness buzz in brief

Farmers interested in growing the crop have been invited to inspect the sites at a series of field days planned for 2023, including January 30 at Manjimup in Western Australia; Hamilton, Victoria, February 9; Epping Forest, Tasmania, February 25; Reedy Creek, South Australia, February 20; Narrabri, NSW, and Stanthorpe, Queensland, in early March; Kununurra, WA, late May and Katherine NT, in June

Crops have been planted in northern NSW and southern Queensland in recent weeks to increase the network to nine Industrial Hemp Varietal Trial sites.

The sites are designed to capture key performance data including yield and quality for different varieties under different sowing times and environmental conditions across Australia.

National trial co-ordinator, Mark Skewes, at the South Australian Research and Development Institute said the three-year IHVT would provide recommendations about which varieties to grow and the best time to sow in each region.

Discount early bird registration to Australia's national agricultural economics, analysis and forecasts forum, Outlook 2023, close on January 27.

After two consecutive years of online presentations during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-running Canberra conference returns on March 7 and 8 to offer a unique combination of public and private sector perspectives from 60-plus speakers.

Outlook includes hot off the press research from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

First day speakers will explore farm sector investment growth and what that means for sustainability, productivity and risk.

They include ABARES' leading economist, Peter Gooday; Commonwealth Bank's national agribusiness director, Carmel Onions; Consumer Goods & Food Sector Leader with KPMG, Robert Poole, and Nuffield Scholar and regenerative agriculture advocate, Jessica Conlan.

Session themes include, a greener outlook for the livestock sector; positioning Australian horticulture for the future, and preparing for animal disease incursions.

Australian veterinary technology company, Vedi, has kick started a new age of digital veterinary care with a universal medical record platform and smart data collection tools, similar to the My Health Record, but for pets.

Vedi is enabling vets to access pet health records via the animal's microchip, making their job more effective and efficient.

Previously known as VetDB, Perth-based Vedi has also secured $3 million in funding to support its plans, from two major international industry investors - MSD Animal Health, a division of Merck and Company, and Companion Fund.

The investment will fund expansion of the first-of-its-kind medical record technology in Australia and into the UK.

MSD's lead of companion animal technology solutions, Oleksiy Nagornyy, said the animal health giant had supported Vedi from the early stages of its journey and looked forward to development of its microchip-enabled health record technology.

National Australia Bank is promising farmers will better understand and report on the impact of their sustainability practices thanks to a partnership formed with ag technology start-up Geora, using blockchain technology.

Using the technology, farmers are able to support the reporting covenants of NAB's Agri Green Loan, with Geora integrating the company's existing sustainability data providers into blockchain.

It creates a standardised and clear record of the environmental impact and has been already used by Queensland's Leather Cattle Company to take steps to reduce emissions.

The recording process also provides an additional layer of transparency to NAB's Agri Green Loan book, creating an account the Leather Cattle Company can share with interested stakeholders in the beef supply chain, including reports on paddock dry matter coverage and red meat production during the term of the loan.

NAB chief innovation officer, Howard Silby, said the initiative would show how blockchain technology may help with a range of use cases in the financial services industry, including climate transition.

US private equity firm, Perea Capital, a has taken a 5.2 per cent stake in Regional Express airlines with a steadily rising $8.5 million share acquisition.

Perea has acquired almost 6m shares in recent months, including 4.2m sold by Asian investors Yew See Toh and Hui Ing Tjoa, in an off-market transaction, and a further 1.7m through exchanges with other sellers.

The two big Rex stakeholders held a combined 6.6pc of Rex before the transaction.

Perea Capital managing partner, Omar Musa, reported to the Australian Securities Exchange in December the purchase of the first 5.9m stake over the preceding four months.

Rex's expanding domestic jet services recorded a $2m pre-tax profit in October, with the regional airline expecting to make a full recovery from the COVID-19 collapse in earnings by the end of this financial year, despite inflation and rising fuel prices.

Queensland's Stockyard Group has appointed its own board director and former Herefords Australia chief executive officer, Lisa Sharp, as marketing and innovation general manager as part of its 2030 strategic plan to focus on producing and promoting high-quality and sustainable beef.

Stockyard claims to be the most awarded branded Angus and Wagyu beef producer in Australia since it established more than 60 years ago .

Ms Sharp (pictured) joined its board in 2020 to provide the benefit of her experience in consumer marketing with fast moving consumer goods brands Uncle Tobys, Kraft Foods, and Coca Cola, and with Meat and Livestock Australia, and more recently at Herefords Australia

Long serving chief executive officer of the New Forests sustainable timber investment management group, David Brand, will move into the chairman's role to be replaced by Mark Rogers.

Sydney-based New Forests has global farmland and timber assets under management worth about $10 billion.

Mr Rogers will take over on April 3, while Mr Brand, who has led the company for 17 years, continues working on strategic growth opportunities and chairing the firm's investment committees until June 2025.

Mr Rogers is currently managing director of the firm's Australian and New Zealand businesses and its senior managing director for the US, as well as being a board director of the Australian Forest Products Association .

AFPA chief executive officer, Joel Fitzgibbon, paid tribute to David Brand as an "incredible advocate for forest industries" and a pioneer and global leader in driving sustainable forest management.

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Advanta Seeds new managing director of its Australian arm, Pacific Seeds, Andrew Short, has officially taken on his new role this month after previously being marketing manager.

Mr Short (pictured) has worked with Pacific Seeds for 12 years, most recently overseeing its business development and technical development functions and also filling in as interim managing director since September.

Advanta Seeds global chief executive officer, Bhupen Dubey, said Mr Short had clearly demonstrated his leadership qualities and an understanding and appreciation of the wider Advanta business as well as his vision for the Australian unit.

Pacific Seeds has been involved in Australian agricultural research and seed breeding and supply since 1962.

Professor Ken Flower starts his role as the new director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (AHRI) this week at The University of Western Australia's School of Agriculture and Environment.

AHRI is a national initiative based at UWA with major investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation, providing research into herbicide resistance for broadacre croppers.

Weeds cost Australia grain growers an estimated $3.3 billion a year or $146 a hectare.

Professor Flower has a broad farming systems skillset, including conservation farming/no-till systems, agronomy and cropping systems, precision agriculture, and weed control.

He completed his undergraduate degree in South Africa, to work in Zimbabwe in weeds research, later completing a Masters of Weed Science at the Imperial College in London."

In 2004 he moved to Australia working for the WA No-Tillage Farmers Association then joined UWA, teaching precision agriculture and cropping systems.

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