Grain Growing

As crop growers across the country's south-east come to grips with the fallout from last month's unseasonally freezing overnight temperatures, there are calls for the event to be treated as a natural disaster in order to trigger urgent government assistance.

Riverina farmer Terry Walker was looking at the best canola crop he had ever grown until a brutal September frost changed his prospects completely.

Many farmers are facing big losses this season, leaving some to consider whether to cut their crops for hay instead. 

Winter crop production is forecast to rise to near-record levels in parts of the country but farmers in others are hoping just to break even after battling unfavourable weather.

A gold ring found in a cabbage plant by a West Australian farmer has been traced back to the Netherlands, but its true owner and origin remain a mystery.

Farmers in WA's northern Wheatbelt are applying essential fertilisers to crops from the sky after the region received its average annual rainfall in just eight weeks.

More than 20,000 tonnes of wheat grain from a farming family in Gnowangerup is loaded onto a bulk carrier through the port of Albany, bound for the Indonesian port of Surabaya.

A flaw in Australia's plant-breeding rights system could mean the fruits, vegetables and grains needed to feed the world and combat climate change are never developed.

Diesel accounts for about 85 per cent of the energy used on Australian farms, but that mix is expected to change as alternative fuels and renewable technology become more affordable.

Some farmers and scientists say the removal of a restriction banning aerial crop spraying near farm dams and salt lakes poses a risk to both businesses and the environment.

South Australian farmers are banking on late winter rain to save their season but optimism is flagging as dry conditions continue.

After battling through a dry 18 months, some grain farmers near Geraldton are celebrating more rain in three days than they recorded across the whole of last year.

While shoppers battle with the cost of food at the check-out, farmers around the world are expected to sow fewer crops this year, as the cost of growing some produce is higher than its potential value. 

Graziers are hoping an east coast low dumping rain across NSW will spur a last minute burst of pasture growth for producers offloading stock, and crops will be boosted — if there's enough sunshine in coming weeks.

The West Australian town of Hyden's March average rainfall of 23 millimetres has been eclipsed after the Bureau of Meteorology recorded 118 millimetres from Saturday to Monday.

"Rice" and noodles made from oats are on track to replace the more traditional versions in Asian pantries as international demand for the Australian product continues to grow. 

Emergency services cut through the collapsed bottom of a silo at a rural Queensland property to help the trapped man who was "drowning" in grain.

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?

Farmers say it took time to bounce back from China's tariffs on Australian barley, but the reopening of the market has been positive.