Country Hour: VIC
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Victorian Country Hour Podcast 22/05/2013
Excitement builds as the Australian dollar might fall further delivering better export returns for agriculture. The Australian dollar is the most volatile in the world according to experts, and returns for dairy, beef and horticulture exports lift with every cent the dollar drops against the greenback. But the low dollar makes fuel more expensive posing a bittersweet situation for farmers using diesel. Local landscaper, Philip Johnson, from the Dandenongs in Victoria has created an...
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Victorian Country Hour Podcast 21/05/2013
Farming family trusts now have to report their tax monthly not quarterly with changes to the Pay As You Go System (PAYG) but families can relax if their business turnover is less than $1 billion dollars. There are over 702 000 trusts in Australia, most of which are associated with small businesses including farms. A crackdown on family trusts that are abusing the tax rules is underway with extra money from last week's Federal budget. There are some good signs for canola growers as Europe is...
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Victorian Country Hour Podcast 20/05/2013
Testing is underway after a horse dies from the lyssavirus which is borne by flying foxes and bats. Previously three people have died after being infected by bats. So far seven people who were in contact with the sick horses have been offered a free course of preventative treatment. Acting chairman of the Australian Horse Industry Council Joy Poole however says the industry is waiting on advice from experts about how to proceed. With concern over diseases being contracted by horses it now...
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 17 May 2013
Victorian fruit cannery, SPC Ardmona is still waiting to hear from the Federal Government as to whether there is any hope of temporary tariff protection for its fruit and vegetable products. Last month, the company cut its canned fruit production by half. Sixty Goulburn Valley fruitgrowers lost their contracts to supply peaches and pears, and the remaining suppliers had their tonnages reduced.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 16th May 2013
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, we hear from Gary Helou the Managing Director of Murray Goulburn. In this extended interview we talk about the Coles fresh milk deal and where he sees the future of the company heading.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 15 May 2013
The American company that's trying to take over major Australian grain company, Graincorp isn't giving anything away of its plans if the bid is successful.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 13 May 2013
State Budget cuts rural financial counselling budget
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 10th May 2013
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, when livestock are selling for less than it costs to keep them alive, farmers have a tough decision to make, calves from dairy cows that are less than two weeks old, are selling for as little as $8 each alot less than what it costs to feed and transport them.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 9th May 2013
There's been another possible breach of the ESCAS live export welfare system, this time in Malaysia is under investigation. Animal rights group Animals Australia handed over footage to the Federal Department of Agriculture, allegedly showing the mistreatment of Australian goats and cattle.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 8 May 2013
The farm sector is putting the pressure on rural lenders to pass on the Reserve Bank's latest interest rate cut in full.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 7 May 2013
It's now more than two weeks since the Federal Government announced a special financial assitance package for farmers.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 6 May 2013
Farmers are still in the dark about what a new national drought policy might mean for them, despite an intergovernmental agreement on drought policy reform last week.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 3 May 2013
Agreement has been reached on a national drought policy, just one week after the Federal Government launched a farm assistance package focused on farm debt.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 2nd May 2013
Today the Country Hour is broadcasting from the national commodity forecaster ABARE's regional conference.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 1st May 2013
It's official: there is life after farming, and it's not all doom and gloom. Farmers across most agricultural sectors and forced out of business due to the drought have found it quite easy to find work, and the vast majority are enjoying their new life and have no intention of returning to farming. Victoria University has interviewed farmers across most agricultural sectors and found those forced out of business due to the drought have found it quite easy to find work.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday April 30th 2013
Fruit growers in the Goulburn Valley who's contracts weren't renewed by SPC met in Shepparton yesterday. And they'd like more than low interest loans which are being offered by the Federal Government. They are calling for a restructure package with a combination of exit grants, funds for removal of trees and a program to maintain orchard hygiene.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 29th April 2013
Today the Victorian Country Hour is broadcast from Shepparton in the heart of the Goulburn Vallery, where many SPC fruit suppliers have just been told that their crops are no longer required. John Wilson from Fruit Growers Victoria joined us to tell us more about what this mean for the region and it's fruit growers.
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Victorian Country Hour 26 April 2013
It's an extremely anxious time for fruit growers in the Goulburn valley as SPC Ardmona systemically tells each grower if they still have a contract to supply the processor.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 25 2013
Vast swathes of rural Australia are at their driest in years, with farmers in some areas now asking for a drought to be declared.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 24 April 2013
Goulburn Valley fruit growers are reeling after they were told there's no longer a market for their fruit. SPC Ardmona is halving the amount of fruit it will buy and an estimated three quarters of a million pear and peach trees will have to be ripped out. Mooroopna orchardist Peter Hall has been in the industry his whole life and says he's never seen it as bad as this.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 23 April
We have approached the federal Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig for an interview he was unavailable this morning; we also called the Victorian Minister for Agriculture, Peter Walsh, he was also unavailable, however he did say that he would be prepared to speak with us after he has met with SPC early next week.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 22 April 2013
Victoria's largest rural water authority is having a major review of its business, because so much of its irrigation water has been sold out of the district. Goulburn Murray Water says 30 per cent of its high reliability water shares have left the irrigation district in the past 6 years, with most of it being sold to the Federal Government for environmental flows. GMW Manager Director Gavin Hanlon says it's now an oversized delivery system and the business structure needs to change.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 19 April 2013
Australia's largest dairy processor Murray Goulburn is throwing its weight around, first with the 10 year deal to supply Coles supermarket's fresh milk, and now upping its stake in competitor Warrnambool Cheese and Butter. Murray Goulburn has this week increased its shareholding in WCB from 12 to 14.5 per cent. Libby Price asked Agricultural stock analyst with RBS Morgans, Belinda Moore if a takeover bid is now likely.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 18th April 2013
Australian dairy farmers are not alone in their disdain for the power wielded by the supermarket giants. Dairy farmers in the UK claim they're also facing pressure from retailers with one of Britain's largest cheese processors warning of price cuts to milk. Today we hear from a North Yorkshire dairy farmer.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 17th April 2013
After a reasonably good start to the year, wool prices have been heading steadily south since. The general economic uncertainty in Europe is sending jitters around the world, and even China is spending far less on buying wool.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 16th April, 2013
It's three months since fires threatened towns in Gippsland, including Heyfield, Glenmaggie and Seaton, where one man was killed trying to escape in his car. The fires spread over more than 70 thousand hectares, and volunteers are still rebuilding fences and trying to get farmers back on their feet. Angus Guild has been working flat out as the coordinator for Blazeaid based in Maffra.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 15th April 2013
Farmers are still pulling dead animals from under the snow, as the United Kingdom continues to experience one of its coldest and wettest conditions in 50 years. It's estimated more than 25 thousand sheep and cattle have perished in snowdrifts during March. Also the UK will be a net importer of wheat for the first time in a decade, with 2 million tonnes lost due to a wet summer and autumn.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 12th April 2013
Fruit growers in the Goulburn Valley are having to make tough decisions about whether to give up and rip up their trees, after fruit canner SPC Ardmona's announced it has no choice but to slash next year's fruit intake. Fruit Growers Victoria estimates the 20,000 tonne reduction in canning peaches and pears, could cost the Goulburn Valley industry tens of millions of dollars.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 11th April 2013
Apple and pear growers in Victoria's Goulburn Valley were giving a very bleak outlook for their future from fruit cannery giant, SPC Ardmona. The company made a presentation to about 100 of its farmer suppliers, and to put it bluntly, the industry's only hope is if it can get some sort of Government help: either through canned fruit import restrictions, or a scheme to help farmers get out of the game altogether.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 10th April 2013
Australia's largest milk processor, Murray Goulburn has pulled off a major coup, winning a ten year contract to supply fresh milk to Coles supermarkets. Murray Goulburn and Norco will supply Coles for its branded milk in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and Victoria. It's shocked the industry, and muscles Parmalat and Lion out of their contract with Coles.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 9th April 2013
The locals are calling it a death trap. A road used to transport hundreds of thousands of tonnes of agricultural commodities in north-west Victoria is so narrow it's putting lives at risk. Olam International, the company that's built the new almond factory acknowledges that the truck traffic has increased on the Hattah-Robinvale road. It says the traffic will die down when the almond harvest finishes. Vic Roads acknoweldges that the gravel on the side of the road is wearing away. It says its...
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 8th April 2013
Animal rights campaigners are talking about renewing a campaign against surgical mulesing of lambs in Australia. A small number of farms have given up mulesing and are managing to avoid the problem of flystrike. But there's little financial reward for their extra effort - and after years of research there's still no cure-all.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 5th April 2013
A dry start to the year has reduced grain yield forecasts in western Victoria. Yield prophet is a cropping simulation model that grain growers and consultants use to predict yield. Birchip Cropping Group yield prophet co-ordinator Tim McClelland says after one of the driest summers on record, the outlook for grain yield is below average.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 4th April 2013
It's the season for sweet, delicious table grapes. The trouble is, the people who grow them are barely making a buck. As usual, the supermarkets are being blamed.
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Victorian Country Hour 3rd April 2013
The Sheepmeat Council says proposed new welfare standards for livestock strike the right balance between what's desirable and what's do-able. The Council's chief executive, Ron Cullen, says all the industry and welfare groups involved in drawing up the proposed standards had a common desire to create consistent animal welfare standards across the country.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 2nd April 2013
Australia's in the process of creating a new, enforcable set of welfare standards for the livestock industries. The draft Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines have been developed in consultation with industry, and have been open for public comment for a month. There are some changes in store for sections of the beef industry if the standards are adopted.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 1st April 2013
Both Labor and Liberal have been warned that now is not the time to reduce investment in agricultural research. The Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture, the peak body which represents the heads of the Schools of Agriculture in Australian Universities, says that investment in agricultural R & D has not kept place with global population growth. In this election year, they warn that Australia risks losing it's competitive advantage unless the nation funds a sustainable investment plan in...
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Victorian Country Hour podcast, 28/03
The good news from agriculture on the day before Good Friday.
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Victorian Country Hour podcast 27 March, 2013
Fruit rotting on trees, farmers assess tornado damage and an almond factory opening.
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Victorian Country Hour, 26 March 2013
The Country Hour broadcasts from the Future Wool exhibition at the National Wool Museum in Geelong.
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Victorian Country Hour podcast, 25 March 2013
Animal activists brand themselves.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 21.03.2013
An organisation that helps feed those in need is asking for farmers help and the booming markets for organics.
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Victorian Country Hour 20.03.2013
The confusing messages that dairy farmers are getting, a mystery pomegranate disease and Luv A Duck speaks about the ACCC charges against its advertising.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday, 19.03.2013.
Questions by tourism operators about bushfire warnings and farmers campaign against a meat free week.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 18th March 2013
Water buybacks are back.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 15th March 2013
Pockets of the country are drying out, others have been flooded or burned, and there's still no comprehensive national drought policy to replace Exceptional Circumstances. But despite some very real challenges, farm debt levels have recovered substantially since the millenium drought broke, and Australian agriculture overall is in a relatively good financial position.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday March 14th 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, the Senate Rural Affairs Committee has tabled its report into the management of the Murray Darling Basin, calling unanimously for more science and less politics in the water debate and they're already sowing grain in the Mallee two months ahead of schedule.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 13th March 2013
Fruit exporters are furious with the exponential increases in government quarantine inspection charges. Citrus growers say the cost increase is enough to make exporting unviable.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 12th March 2013
While the Prime Minister claims the 457 visa, seasonal worker program is full of rorts, farmers say they need the workers, but the program is bogged down by administrative red tape and delays.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 11th March 2013
It can ruin finances as well as leave family relationships in tatters. Poor succession planning can be disastrous.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 8th March 2013
Australia's only freshwater research centre focussed on the Murray Darling basin will close if it doesn't get ongoing funding from State and Federal Governments. The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre will start retrenching its 50 staff at the end of the month due to a $3 million shortfall.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 7th March 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, the future of the highly popular "Farm Day" looks in doubt, with the organisation announcing that they will be delaying the upcoming event which was planned for May. We also head out on a wine grape harvestor.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 6th March 2013
Today a special Country Hour program broadcast from the United Dairy Farmers of Victoria annual conference.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 5th February 2013
Dairy farming is a marathon, not a sprint, according to farmer Paul Zuidema.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 4th March 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, one moment of distraction can cost grain farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars, we hear from a farmer who fixes header fronts, and he's being kept very busy.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 1st March 2013
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, while it's been raining in some parts of the state, there are some regions that have missed out. And council rates, the Victorian Farmers Federation claim farmers are paying more than their fair share and are asking for a fairer council rating system.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 28th February 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, we take a look at the weather, as there's many regions where they've had plenty of rain, while other areas have had next to nothing, we find out where and does this mean the end to the fire season.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 27th February 2013
Lamb prices have had a very healthy rise this week, and even skins are selling well, despite the high Australian dollar.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 26th February 2013
Low milk prices are driving farmers away from the industry in one of the world's largest dairy-producing countries, just as they are here.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 25th February 2013
New agricultural lobby group Farmer Power is frustrated that their concerns are falling on deaf ears.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 22nd February 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, fingers are being pointed in the cherry industry over claims trade deals with China have favoured some states. Tasmania can export cherries to China, because they are fruit fly free, but the rest of the states, including Victoria, can't. And we take a closer look at agriculture and how it's being taught in one school in the south west of the state.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 21st February 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, winegrape growers are concerned that smoke from bushfires in Victoria will damage their upcoming harvest. We also take a closer look at a court case in the USA where a farmer is taking on Monsanto, and look at what the ramifications are of this case, and what it could mean for farmers here.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 20th February 2013
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, the crucial autumn break is especially long awaited this year after a parching summer for many parts - so is the break coming, we'll take a look at the latest seasonal outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology, looking forward over the next three months.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday February 18th 2013
Today on The Country Hour, we go shopping and take a closer look at how much farmers are making from the final product that consumers buy, we also get an update on the fire situation in the South West, as well as the latest weather and market information.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 13th February 2013
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, the competition watchdog, the ACCC has slammed Coles and Woolworths for potentially abusing their market power and we check out where it's been raining around the state.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 14th February 2013
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, we take a closer look at the National Farmers Federations Blueprint for agriculture which they're releasing today in Canberra.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 13th February 2013
More than 500 people gathered in Tongala in northern Victoria today for the Farmer Power rally.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 12th February 2013
Farmers are furious with Coles Supermarket's latest chapter in the milk price discounting war.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 11th February 2013
Australia's live export system is again under attack after claims Australian sheep are being sold in a Kuwaiti market that hasn't been approved through the federal government's export assurance scheme. Welfare group Animals Australia says it has photos of sheep with Australian ear tags at the al-Rai market in Kuwait city - a market that's already under investigation for alleged mistreatment of animals.
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Victorian Country Hour 6th February 2013
Have you noticed your electricty prices are going up?
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour new research suggests that the merino is coming back into fashion. Meat and Livestock Australia has found that over the last five years, the number of merinos in the country has increased by about eight per cent.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 4th February 2013
A senate inquiry has heard that Australia's chemical regulator should be funded to actively seek out safer alternatives for farmers. Environmental group WWF also wants to see the onus shifted onto chemical companies, to prove on a regular basis that their products are safe. WWF made the call before a senate inquiry that's examining proposed new laws governing agricultural and veterinary chemicals.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, within 24 hours of the election being announced, farmers are coming out all guns blazing, blaming the Government for agriculture's loss of export markets. Victoria's Goulburn Valley has long been described as the State's foodbowl. But fruit growers are going broke, as the high Australian dollars kills export markets. 50 tonnes of apricots are rotting on the trees at Peter Hall's Mooroopna orchard because the local SPC cannery won't take any more fruit.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour a potato industry lobby group says the movement of spuds around Australia will be affected by new Victorian laws and we go back and visit a community recovering from bushfire.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 30th January 2013
The Ovine Johne's Disease battle continues, with the sheep industry still miles off reaching any kind of agreement.
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Victorian Country Hour Tueday 29th January 2013
Bundaberg cabinet maker, Jason Charteris estimates he and his mates have rescued scores of people, working in tamden with army helicopters.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 28th January 2013
They weren't exactly kenworth's heading to shaky town, but gippsland certainly had itself a convoy. Nearly 40 trucks and utes loaded with hay heading to Heyfield.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 25th January 2013
A new group called Farmer Power is raising the hackles of established farm lobby groups.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 24th January 2013
It's an extremely anxious time for people in Gippsland just watching and waiting to see what the fires will do next. One such person is David Packham who lives at Willung, south of the Aberfeldy/Donnelly fires.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today a special Country Hour, which was broadcast live from Heyfield in Gippsland. We look at the current fire situation in the region, and how the local community and farmers are recovering from the devastating fire which is still burning in the region.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 22nd January 2013
Fire affected farmers at Seaton and Glenmaggie are in desperate need of a good sleep and a good feed, but with fences destroyed and fodder burnt, there's been little time to rest. Cattle are being mustered and assessed by vets, while farmers are making decisions about destocking through selling or agisting. Bill Lack runs about 40 poll hereford breeders on 180 acres at Dawson. Like most Gippsland farmers, his property was looking fantastic after two great seasons and rain just when they...
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 18th January 2013
Today the Country Hour reports on the Glenmaggie fires which are still burning out of control on about a 5 kilometre front. More than 25,000 hectares have been burnt with several homes lost.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 16th January 2013
The message from dairy farmers is clear. It's costs more to produce milk than farmers are being paid, and something's gotta give. Poor returns and high stress levels were a common theme at a crisis meeting in southwest Victoria this week, which attracted a crowd of more than 500 farmers. At the centre of the controversy is the industry's levy-funded research body, Dairy Australia.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 15th January 2013
Dairy farmers claim the industry is in crisis, and they're not being well represented by the dairy lobby.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 14th January 2013
The Victorian Government has doubled the bounty on wild dog pelts from fifty to a hundred dollars. Wild dogs kill thousands of sheep and young cattle each year, and are notoriously difficult to shoot and trap.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 11th January 2013
The latest on the fires, including great news that Stubby the missing pony at Carngham, has been found.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 10th January 2013
Stock losses in the Chepstowe fire near Ballarat have been significant. So far farmers have reported the deaths of about 500 sheep and 25 cattle, but many more with burnt feet, mouths and udders will be euthanased today.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 9th January 2013
Fruit growers in Victoria's Goulburn Valley have been told their fruit is essentially worthless whilst it is being picked. After telling growers it would take as much as they could grow this season, food processor SPC Ardmona has stopped taking apricots right in the middle of havest.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 7th January 2013
It might seem inevitable that the culture and heritage of the mountain cattlemen is dying the death of a thousand cuts. On Friday, the Federal Court upheld the Commonwealth's decision to ban cattle from Alpine National Parks in Victoria, putting an end to the Baillieau Government's attempts to trial cattle as a fuel reduction measure to lessen fire threat.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today we have a shortrer Victorian Country Hour due to coverage of the cricket. We take a look at how brucellosis has been infecting sheep, and up to as many as a third of all sheep flocks could be infected with brucellosis and most farmers don't even know. We also head to Wodonga and check out the second day of their annual weaner sales.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 3rd January 2013
Today dairy farmers in the United States want to bail out of the country's farm bill.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 2nd January 2013
The U.S. Senate voted early yesterday to raise taxes on wealthier Americans with legislation that also extends some portions of the 2008 farm bill.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 31st December 2012
Australia's drawn-out transition to a fully deregulated wheat industry was finally completed in 2012, four years after the process began.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 28th December 2013
The Country Hour today reflects on what it's like to be farming for more than quarter of a century.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 24th December 2012
On Friday's Country Hour, we reported that the South Australian Government has cut its funding to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority by nearly $30 million. South Australia wants to make a similar contribution to the other basin states and will scale back its funding by 50 per cent from 2014.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 21 December 2012
South Australian treasurer Jack Snelling announced the state government will cut its funding to the Murray Darling Basin Authority by half. That's angered the Authority enough to claim river operations budgets are now unsustainable.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 20th December 21012
The country's largest duck producer has been ordered to pay $400,000 for misleading and deceptive conduct.
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Victorian Country Hour
The Federal Government is moving to ban children from using adult-sized quad bikes.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, Graziers across large parts of the country are desperate for summer rain. The huge beef-producing regions in the eastern states of Australia are particularly dry, with spring not bringing anywhere near enough rain, we catch with a few producers on how they're feeling at the moment. And we also take a look at how successful the aerial bating of wild dogs in NSW has been.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 14th December 2012
The cattle industry's peak body says a proposal to cull 472 bulls in Western Australia may seem severe, but it is necessary. The state's agriculture department wants to isolate and slaughter the bulls from six properties in Kimberley, linked to the Queensland stud that tested positive to bovine Johne's disease last month.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, today be catch up with one of our oldes farmers 82 yearold Bill Church, he was out on the header when we caught up with him for this interview. And the DPI's office in Cobram officially closes its doors tomorrow and of course the latest weather and market information.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 12th December 2012
The ink is barely dry on the Murray Darling basin plan and the Government's already announced $100 million for irrigation upgrades
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 11th December 2012
What does the diesel shortage have to do with the birds and the bees? It's more the bees, as this time of year bee keepers are busy as bees moving their hives to wherever they can find flowering plants.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 10th December 2012
The diesel crisis continues.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, the New Zeland government has put its foot down when it comes to battery hen farms. As of today, no new battery hen farms will be allowed, and in ten years from now, the government there hopes to have halved the amount of battery hen farms. And we have a look at how the harvest has been progressing around Victoria.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, Grain farmers might have been loving the high grain prices this year, but the good run isn't likely to last. That's according to Australian Crop forecasters which is prediciting a fall in prices halfway through next year.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, we hear from the group that represents saleyards who are in disblief over the the RSPCA's push to phase out saleyards as a way of selling livestock. As well we take a look at a course helping to educate young people about motorcycle safety.
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Victorian Country Hour Tueday 4th December 2012
The RSPCA says it's working to phase out saleyards as a way of selling livestock. The organisation has just released animal welfare guidelines for beef cattle production, outlining how animals should be raised, transported and slaughtered.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 3rd December 2012
The Murray Darling Basin Plan is now L.A.W. law.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 30th November 2012
It might not be on the scale of recent European milk protests, but today's annual general meeting of the dairy industry's peak marketing and research body is promising to be a fiery one. Up for discussion at the Dairy Australia AGM is the continued political bunfight between state farmer groups - and a report on how levy money has been spent.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 29th November 2012
Spare a thought for all the animals stuck out there in the stifling heat. We catch up with various farmers to see what animals are playing in the sprinklers and cross to a shearing shed where it's all still go. They've made an early start to try to get the job done.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Victorian Country Hour, we're broadcasting from a major conference on climate change and farming which is being held in Melbourne.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 27th November 2012
This rain has come like a bolt from the blue for many farmers. Whilst most welcome it as a boost to spring pastures, other say it's played havoc with harvest and hay baling.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 26th November 2012
The stoush between South Australian and Victorian dairy farmers will come to head this Friday at the annual general meeting of investment arm of the industry, Dairy Australia.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 23rd November 2012
The turmoil in the sheep industry over new disease control regulations is getting worse. Yesterday the Victorian Government announced it won't implement the new ovine johnes disease control regulations due to start on the first of January, pitting it head first against South Australia.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 22nd November 2012
Who'd have thought a sheep disease could be so divisive. Victoria and south Australia are at each other throughts over new regulations for controlling ovine johne's disease. Ovine Johne's disease (OJD) is an incurable, infectious wasting disease of sheep that can result in significant economic losses on infected farms due to sheep deaths and lost production in meat, lambs and wool.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 21st November 2012
The South Australian Dairy Farmers Association's bid for national representation is again being blocked, this time by the United Dairyfarmers' of Victoria. Several months ago South Australian dairy farmers were expelled from the national lobby group Australian Dairy Farmers.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 20th November 2012
One of the most vocal opponents of the sheep disease regulations to control the spread of ovine johnes disease, Hamilton vet David Rendell has long been advocating vaccination of sheep is the best, most transparent way to control the disease
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 19th November 2012
The sheep industry has a revolt on its hands. The powers that be want to bring in tough regulations to control the sheep wasting disease, Johnes.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 16th November 2012
In NSW's Hunter Valley, 50,000 layer hens are being culled today, with confirmation of they have bird flu. To the relief of the poultry industry, it's not the bird flu that harms humans (H5 N1), but rather a common strain found in Australia - called H7. The Australian Egg Corporation, representing egg producers says it is a free range farm, and biosecurity can be more difficult than for caged hens.
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Victorian Country Hour Thursday 15th November 2012
Water authority Goulburn-Murray Water told staff this morning that sixty workers will no longer be required. The company says federal government water buybacks and upgrades to irrigation infrastructure forced a major restructure to the business. Because of buybacks, the amount of irrigation water owned by Goulburn-Murray Water customers has dropped by 30 percent in the last five years.
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Victorian Country Hour 14 November 2012
A scientific cattle grazing trial in National Parks will begin shortly in south-west New South Wales.
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Victorian Country Hour Tuesday 13th November
What do the extensive State Government cuts to staff and budgets of various Departments of Agriculture mean in the longer term? Professor Philip Pardey is a director of the International Science and Technology Practice and Policy Centre at the University of Minnesota. He's been measuring spending on agricultural research and development around the world and has found a sizeable drop in spending in Australia.
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Victorian Country Hour Monday 12th November
Agribusiness Elders Rural Services is trying to dispell rumours it's in financial difficulties and its sale will lead to widespread office closures. Finance markets have not reacted favourably to the announcement two weeks ago that Elders Limited is selling its core rural services business. Shares in Elders Limited have halved from 28 to 14 cents. Elders Rural Services Group General Manager David Goodfellow says there's been enormous interest from overseas buyers..
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we welcome back the Friday Forum, and we look at what farmers want from the media. As well as the usual weather and livestock information.
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Victorian Country Hour Wednesday 7th November 2012
The livestock export company at the centre of the Four Corners investigation into the culling of 21,000 Australian sheep in Pakistan, remains committed to the industry and is confident it has a long term future. The Wellard Group's managing director Mauro Balzarini says the footage on the program was 'horrific' but the trade must continue. Wellards was working on getting ESCAS accreditation for its Pakistan operations, that is the new Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System brought in by the...
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Victorian Country Hour 6th November 2012
The livestock industry has formed a united front to defend the live export trade after gruesome footage of sheep being killed in a Pakistani feedlot was aired on ABCTV's Four Corners last night. The industry maintains that the brutal slaughter of thousands of sheep in Karachi was an isolated and unprecendented event.
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Victorian Country Hour 5th November 2012
Australia's live export industry is bracing itself for the latest ABC 4 Corners program, which tonight will show shocking footage of the recent culling of thousands of sheep in Pakistan. 18 months ago, the live cattle trade was suspended for a month after 4 Corners broadcast footage of cattle being beaten and their throats cut in an Indonesian abattoir.
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Victorian Country Hour Friday 2 November
For months the egg corporation and lobby groups have argued about what should define 'free range' when it comes to egg labelling. Now the ACCC - the official arbiter - is proposing to not approve the standard put forward by the Australian Egg Corporation, saying it might mislead consumers.
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Victorian Country Hour 1 October 2012
Holy cheeses - Grand Dairy Awards Judging for the annual Dairy Australia, Grand Dairy awards has been a long and arduous process. This week in Melbourne, 20 dairy experts judged 400 cheese and dairy products. There will be 20 overall champions, and two grand champions, one for every cheese and one for other dairy foods.
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Victorian Country Hour, October 30 2012
Today the Country Hour is being broadcast from Thurgoona where a major conference looking at food security is being held.
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Victorian Country Hour
After 4 years of extensive consultation, meeting after meeting, submissions by the truck load, the federal government has announced the new framework for revising Australia's drought policy. It's all about farmers embracing "risk management" and not relying on drought assistance. So what does that mean?
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Victorian Country Hour
The northern Victorian community of Kyabram is in turmoil this morning with the news that the financial group Banksia, has frozen investors funds. Receivers have been appointed and are currently reviewing the companies books.
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Victorian Country Hour
It's been an horrendous 7 years or so for the Australian wine industry, with a global glut of wine leading to a wine grape price collapse. At last there are a few signs of a turnaround. And the big question at this year's Wine Outlook conference is, "Will the Australian wine sector automatically recover its profitability?" Apparently, the answer is, "No!"
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Victorian Country Hour
Just a few months ago, Australia was headed for another El Nino weather pattern. But weather patterns have changed markedly in recent weeks. While drought is less likely, the bad news for Victoria's cropping regions is we might be in for hotter days.
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Victorian Country Hour
One of Victoria's largest fruit exports, navel oranges, has to cut over production by 25 per cent. Citrus growers are being asked to pull out a quarter of their navel trees.
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Victorian Country Hour
Wool's biggest problem could be lack of supply as farmers turn to dual purpose sheep.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Victorian Country Hour, an ANZ report suggests that Australian farm exports could increase by more than one and a half trillion dollars by 2050. Quad bike safety comes under the spot light today with a meeting to discuss how they could be made safety. All that and the latest weather and market information.
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Victorian Country Hour
You'd think with the almighty collapse of the tree plantation industry and in particular, the managed investment schemes, that there'd be little demand for buying prime farm land for planting pines. But that's just what's happening in the beautiful Tallangatta valley in north east Victoria.
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Victorian Country Hour
A senate estimates panel has heard details of the amount of water the Commonwealth currently holds for environmental purposes in the Murray-Darling Basin. It also heard how the Commonwealth is approaching the tricky subject of where, and how, it might use, and trade, that water.
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Victorian Country Hour
In estimates hearings overnight, Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck questioned the Government over the amount of funding it has provided to the Year of the Farmer program. Year of the Farmer Limited has announced it is significantly scaling back planned activities because of budget constraints.
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Victorian Country Hour
OUR first in the series comparing farming now with 20 to 30 years ago. Our candidate to cast an eye over his farming history is a dairy farmer.
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Victorian Country Hour
Farmers are still waiting to get government flood assistance from December last year, and this year's string of floods. The State Government is blaming the Commonwealth.
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Victorian Country Hour
Every year, Australia throws out four million tonnes of food. Surely there's an alternative? Couldn't some of that go to the 300 000 Victorians who can't afford enough food to feed their family. Well, yes there is. Donating excess supply to the charity Foodbank. And that's just what Victoria's egg farmers have done.
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Victorian Country Hour
How to you make negotiations over the last piece of dergulation of the wheat industry interesting? Try to negotiate with all side of politics yesterday afternoon when the proverbial hit the fan over the Peter Slipper affair. Caught in all the political antics were grain grower representatives from around the country, trying to get some sense out of all sides of politics about what to do about Wheat Exports Australia, which issues wheat export permits.
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Victorian Country Hour
The current Murray Darling Basin plan spends too much on engineering works and not enough on buying land and more water to the environment. That's the view of Dr Jamie Pittock is from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, and led the team which examined the Government's "Living Murray" program.
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Victorian Country Hour
What is happening with Wheat Exports Australia? Why had it split the Coalition? And what does it do, do we need it in a deregulated market?
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Victorian Country Hour
Until the late 1990s, the shearing industry was unaware of just how dangerous the job was. Since then, collaborative efforts bweten the Australian Workers Union, Worksafe, the Shearing Contractors Association and other groups have seen changes made to shed design, and increased education on how to prepare equipment.
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Victorian Country Hour
More important than the Murray Darling Basin plan, is planning for managing the rivers through climate change. That's the view of Charles Sturt University ecologist, Professor Max Finlayson.
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Victorian Country Hour
Who would be a wine grape grower at the moment? It sounds an idyllic existence, growing fine wines. But it's been far from it for the past decade in the Murray Valley wine growing region in the north west of Victoria.
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Victorian Country Hour
How many times have you been listening to the Country Hour and heard about job cuts this year? Jobs gone at the DPI, DSE, Parks Victoria, and milk processor, Murray Goulburn. Now it's the OTHER processor, Fonterra
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Victorian Country Hour
Victoria's grain farmers were watching the skies with nerves and apprehension over the weekend. There was rain forecast and it could've been enough to save some desperately thirsty crops.
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Victorian Country Hour
The Australian Live Exporters Council has described the brutal culling of Australian sheep in Pakistan as appalling and very distressing. Local authorities in Pakistan ordered the sheep be killed, claiming they were diseased and unfit for human consumption.
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Victorian Country Hour
If you've been to an agricultural show this year, chance are you would have already seen the Year of the Farmer roadshow. And you were one of the lucky ones, because the Year of the Farmer is now having to make some budget cuts and isn't going to be attending many more shows for the remainder of the year.
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Victorian Country Hour
How many times have you headed out for a nice days mustering sheep, to end up red in the face, sweating and swearing at your sheep and your sheep dog. Boxed mobs, sheep unaccounted for and a very sore throat from shouting.
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Victorian Country Hour
The Royal Melbourne Show kicked off on the weekend and continues until next Tuesday. It's been going since 1848 and igt's mission is to showcase Victoria's food and agricultural sectors.. so how well is it doing that?
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Victorian Country Hour
The Federal Government's green light to recommence sheep exports to the Middle East will not necessarily eliminate the challenges facing the sector. That's the message from John Edwards, the chairman of the WA Livestock Exporters Association.
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Victorian Country Hour
Australia's largest exporter of breeder livestock says tension in Indonesia over Australia's handling of the live export trade has contributed to a crackdown on the pedigree of breeder cattle. Elders breeder exports are predominantly dairy cattle, most of which go to Russia and China.
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Victorian Country Hour
When one sector of society is doing it tough the financial repercussions are felt far and wide.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the latest Bureau of Meteorolology forecasts for the next couple of months, look like Victoria might be about to experience a hotter, drier summer.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Country Hour, a special broadcast from the National conference of the Centre for Farmer Health which is being held this week in Hamilton.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, today we find out more about the Greens proposal to change Australia's food labelling laws to make it clear whether a product is actually Australian.
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Victorian Country Hour
Goulburn Valley peach growers informed of cuts to contracts with SPC Ardmona.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Counry Hour, we catch up the winners of the Farmer of the Year awards which were announced last night.
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Victorian Country Hour
Melbourne scientists believe they've found a way of testing for the deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and mad cow disease.
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Victorian Country Hour
The supermarket milk discounting wars have got to the point that dairy farmers are looking to export fresh milk to Asia, rather than accept lower domestic prices.
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Victorian Country Hour
After showing some promise that fine wools could be back in fashion and the wool price bullish, the woollen rug has been pulled out of the market again. Finewool growers were beginning to think their patience was paying off, but the market has been giving them a nasty reality check.
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Victorian Country Hour
An animal welfare group says it has proof Australian sheep are being killed inhumanely in a Middle Eastern market. Animals Australia alleges the meat market isn't approved to receive Australian sheep under new government standards.
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Victorian Country Hour
The Country Hour reports on the gale force winds across the State.
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Victorian Country Hour
The Baillieu Government is either very brave or very stupid.
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Victorian Country Hour
What motivates people to pay extra for organic food? According to the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry - the average premium for buying organic is 80 per cent and as much as 287 per cent in the case of spaghetti.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, The Federal Opposition is using the dairy price war to make a stand in Parliament, promising to name and shame those they claim are putting the screws on farmers. And we look at a new emerging market, Alpaca meat.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we look at new treatment to replace mulesing, the operation that removes skin from a sheep's backside to prevent flystrike and we go on the hunt for the spiny backed crayfish.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, bulk grain handler, Grain Corp, is about to expand its business further by producing and exporting edible oils, we catch up with their CEO who explains more, as well as the latest weather and livestock market information.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, fruit growers in the Sunraysia region are being asked to pitch in and pay for the control of fruit fly. And we look at how feeding your cattle the by-products from beer production can lower their methane emissions.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, our Friday Forum looks at whether consumers are holding back agriculture. As well as the latest weather and livestock information.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we catch up with the Victorian Minister for Agriculture in relation to the possible changes to fruit fly exclusion zones. And we hear from a Gippsland farmer who wanted to know what it was really like on a live cattle export ship, so he hitched a lift.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Country Hour, we find out more about the changes the state Government has announced to fly fly controls regions in Victoria and what this will mean for fruit growers.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we take a closer look at what the carbon tax means for a Victorian cold storage operator and the Australian Workers Union are protesting against changes to the pastoral industries award.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the latest in the supermarket price wars see Woolworths drop the prices for lamb. And we head off to the Great Victorian Vanilla slice competition.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, our Friday Forum looks at agricultural research, where it's at and what's the future.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, after months of indecision it's finally happened the board of the ADF, the dairy industry's peak body has voted on a restructure, we find out what it means and we find out more about the work of a crash test cow.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, live sheep exports from the Port of Portland halved in the last financial year as a result of new supply chain requirements and we take a closer look at the carbon farming initiative.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the future of the National Centre for farmer health is still is doubt with no guarantee of any future funding. And one of Australia's largest lamb exporters is frustrated that the MLA aren't doing enough to develop export markets.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the shipping industry is blaming rising costs and competition for its struggle to make profits and Northern Victorian water authority Goulburn-Murray Water has announced it is closing it's water trading business, Watermove.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, our Friday Forum looks at whether there's too many farm lobby groups. Our guests are Peter Tuohey the President of the Victorian Farmers Federation and Xavier Duff, who's a senior journalist with the Weekly Times newspaper.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, news that the Russian government will not be putting a halt to wheat imports which could be good news for Australian grain growers, and we take a closer look at apples, at one stage in Victoria there used to be around 600 varieties which were grown here.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Country Hour a special broadcast from the North East Beef School. We also hear from Gary Halou, the Managing Director of Murray Goulburn about their announcement today of $200 million to upgrade their facilities in regional Victorian and Tasmania.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we hear from the Federal Water Minister Tony Burke on the updated version of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the latest version of the Murreay Darling Basin plan is released, we find out what's changed since the last one.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, 16,000 head of Australian cattle are today caught up in another live export dilemma and our Friday Forum today, we take a closer look at why farmers and farming groups don't always agree on things.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the South Australian Dairyfarmers Association has been kicked out of the national lobby group, the Australian Dairy Farmers. We hear in the program today from both groups.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, while gold medals are on the brain as the world watches the Olympics in London. Today we look at the medals on wines, is this the best way for consumers to judge a wine?
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, the Victorian Government is considering changing the laws around game hunting, which could see a rise in tourism game hunting.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, we've been hearing alot about the drought in the United States, and while it's made Australian grain growers very happy, pork and chicken producers are facing stiff rises in there feed prices. And consumers will be the ones paying, with chicken meat set to double in price.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Country Hour, a special program, where we take a closer look at the image of agriculture as a profession. There are thousands of job vacanies within agricultural industries, but only a few hundred graduates to take up the jobs, we look at why.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on the Country Hour, the NSW government has made some changes to the law in relation to stock movements across state borders, this is all about controlling Bovine Johnes Disease. We find out what this means for Victorian livestock producers.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today a special broadcast from Horsham where the latest ABARE regional outlook conference is being held.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today we're broadcasting from the Grains Research and Development Corporation Farm Business forum.
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Victorian Country Hour
Today on The Country Hour, it appears that Victoria is paying for South Australia's fox control. South Australian farmers are taking advantage of the Victorian $10 fox bounty, by sending SA fox scalps to Victorian collection points.
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- Agriculture, Country Talk, Public Radio
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The Country Hour brings you the latest in agricultural and mining news and developments from around Victoria.ABC Radio's Country Hour is Australia's longest running radio program. It's broadcast daily at midday on local radio.
