Despite the national offering increasing slightly this week, the volume was well down when compared to the corresponding sale last year. Overall there has been 141,265 fewer bales offered this season, a reduction of 9.6%.

The large volume of lower yielding wools is continuing to put downward pressure on the market, while the higher yielding / good style wools remain highly sought after. The MPGs generally fell by 10-20 cents this week, pushing the NRI down by 7 cents to close the week at 1,986. The NRI has now fallen for six consecutive weeks, this is the longest downward run since September 2012, however the losses this time have not been as severe.

The crossbred sector has continued to defy the trend of the merinos, recording increases for the third week in a row. Strong demand helped to push prices higher, generally between 10 and 25 cents.

In a positive sign, the Western region (which sell last) sold very strongly, and managed increases across the board.

Source: AWEX

Agriculture A Winner Of  Indonesia Trade Deal

Australian farmers are big winners in the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) which was signed this week. Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, David Littleproud said once in force the deal would help farmers sell more product. “We’re giving our farmers more options and creating competition for Australian produce,” said David.

“Beef and sheep farmers are big winners – tariffs will disappear and more cattle will be exported. All tariffs on beef and sheep meat will be eliminated over five years with most eliminated immediately.

At the moment they sit at five percent. The first 575,000 head of live male cattle are now duty free, growing to 700,000 over six years.” “Sugar tariffs will be slashed from a maximum 12 percent to five percent. The first 500,000 tonnes of grain per year will also be duty free and that will grow by five percent a year. Improved duty free quotas will also be put in place for citrus and horticultural products.”

“Also we’re increasing work and holiday visas for Indonesians from 1,000 to 5,000 which makes a big difference for producers who need seasonal workers.”

“Since coming to government, the Coalition has delivered six major free trade agreements. These are key to realising our ambition of a $100 billion agricultural industry by 2030. It will help boost farm gate prices, driving regional growth and jobs,” said David.

Fast Facts:

• Indonesia is our fourth largest agricultural export market, worth $3.35 billion in 2017.

• Agriculture, fisheries and forestry totalled $54 billion in export earnings in 2017-18.

• Australia imported $833 million of agricultural commodities from Indonesia in 2017.

Combating Weeds

Central West Local Land Services, through its Regional Weeds Committee, facilitated the signing of a partnership agreement with Local Control Authorities across the region.

In a proactive approach to region-wide weed management, eight local authorities including Parkes, Bogan, Castlereagh Macquarie, Dubbo, Forbes, Lachlan, Narromine and Weddin, have committed to weed eradication at a local level. The agreement is seen as a major step forward in weed control as weeds are a major threat to our natural environment.

New Record Set For Ewe Sale

What’s understood to be a new Western Australian record for a commercial line of breeding ewes was set at an on-farm sheep sale near Hyden late last week.

The Varone family sold their mob of 4,486 sheep, and recorded a sale average of $257 a head. But the top price paid was an eye-watering $310 for 719 white tag ewes, aged around one and a half years old, mated and with about six months’ wool on them. (Source: ABC Rural)

NSW Farmers’ Tertiary Scholarships

Are you a student looking for a career in agriculture? NSW Farmers is offering five scholarships valued at $4,000 each for students committed to enhancing agriculture and rural communities. To be eligible you must be a member of NSW Farmers. Visit the NSW Farmers website for applications details. Applications close Monday, 18th March.

FarmHub has been launched to support drought-affected farmers. It contains details on assistance with fodder, water, transport, everyday living expenses and health in the one spot. It has been developed in partnership with the National Farmers’ Federation.

Now Farmers have a single and straightforward place to find out what drought assistance is available to them. The new online resource was launched recently bringing together information on drought support available for individual farmers.

Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, David Littleproud said FarmHub brings together the services of the Commonwealth, states, councils and charities. “This will tell farmers what assistance is available for them without any mucking around,” said David.

“Farmers just need to go to farmhub.org.au and type in their location to find help available. It will show what fodder, water, transport and living expense assistance is available at an individual farm, as well as mental and physical health services. This has all been pulled together and verified by the National Farmers’ Federation,” said David.

David also launched a National Drought Map to help coordinate the drought response and so governments, business and communities can make informed decisions. “The National Drought Map is a clear and precise picture of conditions and the drought response across Australia,” he said. “This will help us to be flexible and responsive to the drought when conditions change. It has information such as rainfall, soil moisture, available government assistance, numbers of farm businesses, agricultural regions and employment by industries.” FarmHub and the Drought Map are dynamic sites that will continue to improve over time. The National Drought Map is available at map.drought.gov.au.

The Australian Wool Institute’s (AWI) $10 million project, in partnership with Ranken Research and Robo Shear, aims to develop a prototype machine for fully automated end to end wool harvesting. The project was established because there is a national shortage in shearers, despite the rising global demand for wool and record high prices per kilogram.

According to a 2016 report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are about 2,800 shearers and 73 million sheep in the country.

Despite historic peaks in wool prices last year, shearers are leaving the industry to pursue generally, less labour intensive, opportunities.

The machine uses jointed mechanical arms driven by electric motors and computer programs have been built to reach the back and sides of the sheep – the most important parts of the fleece.

The process works with a camera capturing 3D imagery of sheep during the various stages of the shearing process. That data is then used to reconstruct what the sheep would look like without wool, which is fed into the robot when it begins shearing.

According to AWI, the machine is not intended to replace shearers but to be used in conjunction with traditional shearing methods.

“I think Australia’s wool industry is ready for innovation,” said National Farmers Federation (NFF) President, Fiona Simson, who is excited by the prospect of change in the wool industry.

“The romanticism of the old outback that people knew and the old farms that people knew are being replaced by lots of technology.

“I’m really confident we can embrace that in wool as well… while protecting the welfare of both animals and workers,” said Fiona.

(Source: https://farmers.org.au website).

The merino fleece sector performed with mixed results this week. Better style wools, with favourable additional measurement results continue to attract excellent buyer support, resulting in very little change for these types, while off style types, carrying higher VM and those with high mid-breaks lacked the same support.

Overall the NRI added 8 cents for the series, making it the fifth consecutive week of positive movement.

In the skirtings, long low VM types continue to outperform the rest of the market and these wools recorded very little change, while the increasing supply of higher VM types eased, with lots carrying fault such as cott and colour most affected.

The crossbreds were by far the best performing sector this week, with 26 to 28 microns gaining 80-100 cents, while all other microns were generally 25-45 cents dearer, once again it was the better prepared lines that attracted the strongest competition, and posted the largest gains.

Currently, there are 40,426 bales rostered for sale next week.

Source: AWEX

51,703 bales were offered this week, making it the largest national offering since April last year. However despite the larger offering, the overall quantity is still well down on the previous season, with a reduction of 175,524 bales offered (-16.8%).

The merino fleece market was mixed in its performance. The three centres behaved slightly differently, with varied positive and negative movements recorded across the board.

Although there was an inconsistent pattern, the overall trend was upward. By the close of trade the NRI had gained 12 cents, closing the week at 1,960c/kg.

Skirtings managed to record upward movements, generally by 2-40 cents, wools coarser than 19 micron attracted the most attention and as a result enjoyed the largest gains. The oddments varied between centres, the North and West recorded 20-30 cent rises, whilst the South posted a small reduction.

The crossbred sector performed the best, with large gains of 50-80 cents experienced in the 26 to 28 micron range.

Currently, there are 41,503 bales rostered for sale next week.

Source: AWEX

Beef farmers will now be able to market their cattle as ‘Grain Fed Finished’ after feeding them grain for 35 days before sale or export and will be able to ask a premium for these animals.

Previously, only two standards existed: ‘Grain Fed’ and ‘Grain Fed Young Beef’. ‘Grain fed’ required the cattle to be fed on grain for 80 of the past 100 days while ‘Grain Fed Young Beef’ required grain to be fed 50 of the past 60 days for females and 70 days for males.

“This new ‘Grain Fed Finished’ standard means farmers can feed the cattle grain for 35 days and reap the benefits of selling as ‘Grain Fed Finished’,” said Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, David Littleproud.

“The science says 35 days on grain produces the fat colour attribute associated with grain-fed beef. Thirty-five days on one property means cattle are Meat Standards Australia accredited, too.

“The standard requires the cattle be fed on a specified high energy grain diet. As Australians, we refuse to compromise on quality,” said David. The standard is operational now, having been signed into regulation.

Fast facts:

• The new ‘Grain Fed Finished’ standard, or trade description, will apply both domestically and overseas.

• Grain Fed (GF) cattle must have been in a feedlot for not less than 100 days and for not less than 80 days of that, on a nutritionally balance ration of a recognised high energy feed of which grain is the highest single component.

• Grain Fed Young Beef (GFYB) cattle must have been in a feedlot for not less than 70 days (females for not less than 60 days) and for not less than 50 days of that, on a nutritionally balance ration of a recognised high energy feed of which grain is the highest single component.