Articles by Colin Packham | Manitoba Co-operator

Australia to subsidize air freight

Aim it to unfreeze agri-exports shut down by virus

By Colin Packham May 20, 2020

Australia’s government will spend A$110 million (C$95 million) to subsidize air freight for exports of agricultural products after flights were severely disrupted due to the global coronavirus pandemic. About 90 per cent of Australian air freight is usually transported in planes carrying tourists. But with scores of countries closing their borders to stop the spread

Crops, Markets

China hits Australia with barley tariff

Duty to last for five years; China may turn to Canada, other exporters

By Colin Packham, Dominique Patton, GFM Network News May 19, 2020

Beijing/Sydney | Reuters — China added to tensions with Australia on Monday by announcing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties totalling 80.5 per cent on Australian barley imports from Tuesday (May 19), which is expected to all but halt a billion-dollar trade between them. China’s ministry of commerce said it had confirmed dumping by Australia and significant

A field is sprinkled with the remnants of cotton after a harvest in Trangie, Australia, September 4, 2019. Drought is weighing on economic growth, and the dire conditions have prompted Australia, a major wheat exporter, to import the grain for the first time in 12 years.

News, Weather

Australia offers drought-ravaged farmers cheap loans

Farm businesses will have access of up to $500,000, interest free for the first two years

By Colin Packham November 19, 2019

Australia will offer farmers hurt by drought up to A$1 billion in cheap loans, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Nov. 6, as the government seeks to curb rising discontent from rural voters. Farmers across Australia’s east coast have been battling drought conditions for more than three years, wilting agricultural production and leaving some towns on

Crops, Weather

Australia cuts wheat forecast by 11 per cent

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News, Reuters June 12, 2019

Sydney | Reuters — Australia on Wednesday cut its wheat production forecast for the 2019-20 harvest by more than 11 per cent as an unrelenting drought across the country’s east coast threatens crops for a third year in a row. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) pegged production of the

Crops, Weather

Australia to import first wheat in 12 years as drought bites

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News May 15, 2019

Sydney | Reuters — Australia will import its first shipment of wheat in more than a decade as a drought across the country’s east coast wilts supply in the world’s fourth largest exporter of the staple grain. Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources said late on Tuesday that it has approved an import permit

Livestock

Australian lawmaker pushes to end live sheep exports

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News May 21, 2018

Sydney | Reuters — An Australian backbencher on Monday introduced legislation to parliament to ban the export of live sheep after the death of 2,400 animals led to widespread criticism of the A$250 million (C$241.96 million) industry. The bill threatens to expose fractures within the ruling coalition government, which last week introduced tougher oversight of

Sheep shearers are a hot commodity in Australia right now as producers try to capitalize on higher wool prices after a generations-long slump.

International news, Livestock

Falling off the sheep’s back: Why Australia can’t capitalize on record wool prices

A long-awaited surge in wool prices has met a shortage in key personnel and a low sheep count

By Colin Packham, Jonathan Barrett April 3, 2018

Sheep farmers in rural Australia waited more than half a century for wool prices to come roaring back, only to find there aren’t enough shearers to trim their golden fleeces. “Once upon a time you could go down to the local pub and arrange for some fellas to come in and start almost immediately —

Markets

Final version of Trans-Pacific trade deal released

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News February 21, 2018

Wellington/Sydney | Reuters — The final version of a landmark deal aimed at cutting trade barriers in some of the Asia-Pacific’s fastest-growing economies was released on Wednesday, signalling the pact was a step closer to reality even without its star member the U.S. More than 20 provisions have been suspended or changed in the final

Beef cattle, Livestock

Beef makes the cut as Australia, China move to boost trade

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News March 23, 2017

Sydney | Reuters — Australia and China are expected to sign new bilateral agreements on beef exports, energy and security during a four-day visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that began on Thursday. Li, the first sitting Chinese premier to visit Australia in 11 years, was welcomed to parliament in Canberra by Prime Minister Malcolm

Livestock

Australia approves sale of giant Kidman pastoral holdings

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News December 9, 2016

Sydney | Reuters –– Australia on Friday approved the A$386.5 million (C$379.3 million) sale of the country’s largest private landholder S. Kidman and Co. to a consortium led by the country’s richest woman Gina Rinehart, after blocking two previous bids. Rinehart and her minority partner, Chinese developer Shanghai CRED, will now complete the purchase of

COVID-19 and the farm: Stories from the GFM network

CBOT weekly outlook: Prices stable, crops looking good

U.S. grains: Soybeans rise on improving exports

GFM Network News