Agricultural Crops

Huge piles of tumbleweeds are surrounding houses, frustrating farmers and heightening fire risk in rural areas. But academics say very little can be done to wipe them out.

A popular family-owned farm is closing to the public and is on the market, with weather extremes, staffing challenges, and the increasing costs of production, insurance, and compliance as the reasons behind the closure.

The WA government once offered train holidays around the state with sleeping cars, on-board dining, and a chance to see the sights on 'reso tours'.

Protesting Indian farmers clash with police for a second consecutive day as tens of thousands march towards the capital to demand guaranteed prices for their produce.

As wild weather pummels the country, Queensland farmers are exhausted after five years of droughts, fires, floods and cyclones. And it's pushing their coping abilities to the limit. 

The invasive insect causes millions of dollars in losses across Australia's summer crop-growing regions.

Barley exports to China are booming after tariffs were lifted in August, but are Australian farmers just repeating the same mistake?

It has been nearly five months since Australia gave up trying to eradicate varroa mite, but a national plan is now locked in to slow its spread.

Food charities helping struggling families put food on the table can no longer rely on excess produce being available as farmers count their own cost of extreme weather events.

The business a young couple crowdfunded to grow a head-turning array of tasty, colourful fungi closes as failing machinery and crop losses due to constant rain prove too much to overcome.

Experts warn a water shortage is inevitable as almonds become the biggest crop by area planted on Australia's longest river.

Australian wine exports have been hit by a global trend in people drinking less alcohol and cutting costs, but hope remains for the re-opening of a major market.

One business owner had his water pipes blow out because he was unable to monitor the pressure of his 140-kilometre-long system.

Emergency alerts have been issued for parts of the state, where residents are witnessing the all-too-familiar sights of flooded businesses, roads and paddocks.

Some inland Queensland farmers are relieved, others disappointed, by lower than expected rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily.

Talking about the weather is a farming pastime, and it's dominating conversations after summer storms hit. A new Bureau of Meteorology team dedicated to agricultural decision-making will give farmers even more to talk about.

It's a small-scale operation, but it brings a golden bounty. Henry Petersen reckons he's one of the last backyard pickers in north Queensland. 

The humble vegetables are susceptible to storms, heavy rainfall and high temperatures. Frequent extreme weather events make the crop vulnerable.

Federation TAFE introduces an accredited training course as modelling estimates that by 2028, nearly 250,000 Victorian patients are expected to demand medicinal cannabis.

The success of the country's first commercial-scale agave farm could mean big things for an emerging Australian alcohol industry.

Tasmania's only hemp stalk processing factory is producing "hempcrete" — an uncommon, but highly sustainable building product. The industry says regulation is blocking access to a multi-billion-dollar market. 

Tens of thousands of Queenslanders living downstream are told the poor quality of concrete used in the 300,000-megalitre dam's spillway means it cannot be safely mended or reinforced, as the state government prepares plans to rebuild it.

It is usually fireworks that ring in the new year — but for farmers and graziers across Queensland, 2024 has been welcomed in with lightning, thunder and much-needed rain. 

After lowering Paradise Dam's wall due to safety concerns, its operator Sunwater now says a $1.2 billion plan to restore it won't be enough to make Bundaberg's main agricultural water store safe.

Farmers like Alexandra Westlake and Meiqing Lin were left devastated when the River Murray flooded. A year on, the emotional and financial toll is just being realised.