Mixed farming accounts for about half of all farms in Australia occupying about 50 million hectares of land, mostly in the southern States and in Western Australia.   The combination of cropping and livestock on the one property has gained traction by allowing owners to alternate between crops and pastures…

Irrigation is a critical input for agricultural production, and plays an important role in food security in Australia and abroad.   The World Bank says irrigated agriculture represents 20 percent of the planet’s total cultivated land and contributes 40 percent of the total food produced worldwide.   And, it notes,…

Solar energy and emus belong together These ancient birds – reaching between 1.6 and 1.9 metres tall, and capable of sprints up to 50 kph – have pecked a living from grasses, fruits, native plants, and insects as they have roamed our sunlit plains and woodlands for millions of years.  …

A leading broad scale producer of mesclun mixed salad in Australia is opening another chapter in its success story with the introduction of a radio-controlled automated irrigation system at its properties in NW Victoria.   The Mait monitoring and control system – tailored to the salad specialist’s optimised water use…

Moving water uphill has been a challenge since ancient times. The Egyptians and the Babylonians used Archimedes screws to irrigate fields near the Nile and to water the Hanging Gardens near the Euphrates, employing a large screw with a waterproof covering which was turned to lift the water to a…

Australia burst onto the world wine scene from the 1980s, at the start of which domestic consumption was under three litres per capita and exports were paltry compared with the quality on offer.   Fast forward to 2023 and domestic consumption is six times what it was, and exports total…