Queensland Country Hour

AAM is again trying to bring regular cattle sales back to the Longreach saleyards after more than a decade. Also, saddle sisters from Mackay complete the Brisbane Valley railway circuit on horseback, and Australia considers buying Uruguay's beef quota into China.

The cattle industry in Australia is on track to produce more than 3 million tonnes of beef this year, it's harvest time for grain growers in the Central Highlands and flowering begins for avocado producers in the Wide Bay.

Prices for regional flights are in the spotlight, negotiations continue to get a national standard for water as the as the AI and data centre industry continues to grow but Queensland is yet to agree and meet the unlikely entrepreneurs behind a new variety of giant avocado.

The National Farmers Federation has cut a deal with the federal government for faster processing of backpacker visas. Two mines in Far North Queensland have struck multiple deals to export tin and tungsten to the United States. A new Rabobank report says Australia may want to consider using part of its agricultural production to build a more resilient and secure domestic fuel supply.

A former Bowen farm worker is turning his experience in North Queensland horticulture into a career developing the next generation of agricultural technology. A Muster Dogs fan-favourite now has his sights on training-the-trainers of the next generation of working dogs. The Machine of the Year has been awarded to an auto-fill system aimed at keeping autonomous robots spraying weeds into the night.

Agricultural producers across Central Queensland have lost livestock, infrastructure, and grazing country as bushfires have burned through the region since the beginning of September. Australia's last grower-owned sugar mill is at risk of closing and is calling for a government bailout to survive. Water pressure in the Great Artesian Basin has slowly been recovering following the capping of hundreds of free-flowing bores or watering points often used by graziers in Queensland, but there's still more to go.

The conflict in the Middle East is continuing to put pressure on global oil markets, but there could be a stabilisation in fuel prices soon. Industry leaders, policymakers and experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping Australia's food security and agricultural future. And it's shaping up to be a bumper lychee season thanks to strong flowering and increased plantings ... but farmers aren't getting ahead of themselves just yet.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

A 95-year-old Injune woman has received an award from the Bureau of Meteorology for decades of service. 

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

A Queensland paddock that's currently running cattle could soon be home to Australia's largest data centre, the Innisfail beekeepers who are responsible for the discovery of Australia's northernmost Varroa mite detection and Canegrowers organisation looks back on 100 years of representing Queensland's sugar cane farmers, celebrating the legends who built the industry with their bare hands. 

Australia imports two thirds of its seafood production but that might mean we're exporting our environmental footprint, celebrating a young Queensland students win for her research into a crop disease and how the upcoming papaya season is shaping up.  

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Queensland parliament passes the controversial critical minerals bill, a proven connection between work to reduce farm run off and improved water quality to the Great Barrier Reef and meet the 16 year old selling horses to buy sheep. 

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world with our team of specialist reporters.

JBS Australia sells stake to a major Indonesian Investment company, opportunities for young women pursuing a career in ag-tech and why a Queensland mushroom grower is closing its doors.

The plan to lift the value of Queensland agriculture to $30 billion by 2030 gets its first KPIs, how the EKKA is handling the threat of bird flu, and meet Myra Collom, who hasn't missed the Royal Show in 63 years.  

Beef Week at the EKKA is in full swing, with feature breed Charolais in the spotlight. Meet the breeders and steer leaders, and one Cracker of a heavy bull. 

Case IH pulled out of the cotton harvester market 15 years ago, but now they're coming back. Reflecting on 30 years of BT Cotton, and is the free ride over on pollination services?

The cotton industry unites to reflect on the past, prepare for the future and navigate an increasingly unstable world. And calls for a national labour hire licensing program to combat worker exploitation horticulture.

Pregnant cows and calves are among 142 wagyu cross cattle believed to have been stolen, Australia's red meat is finding a home in the land of maple syrup and ice hockey, and a surge in gun licence applications in Qld. 

Tunnel net fishing trials abandoned, experimenting with shadehouses to grow capsicums, and could biocontrol end our rabbit problems for good?

Why Queensland's new recycling strategy won't help with the mounting farm plastic waste problem, local transmission of H5N1 bird flu confirmed in SA and a grazier's emotional plea for bone marrow donations. 

James Stinson's southern Queensland cattle property has only had 120mm of rain this year. But he says he'll avoid taking out a drought loan if he can. Meanwhile the Warrego, Paroo, Bulloo and Nebine River catchments are being reviewed, the Draft Gulf Regional Water Assessment is out for consultation and priority allocations for the Bowen pipeline project are about to close. 

Queensland's Food Farmers' Commissioner calls for a crackdown on food fraud, the mysterious cotton disease wreaking havoc in the north, and parts of southern Queensland officially drought declared. 

Southern Queensland egg farmers concerned but prepared after confirmation of the state's first case of H5 bird flu in a migratory bird. What Syngenta withdrawing paraquat from the market means for the grains industry, and a grazing communities ponders life without a pool. 

Queensland's first suspected detection of H5 bird flu, New US tariffs, and the company behind the controversial Mt Challenger Wind Farm scraps part of the project.

Western cattle country to become weapons testing site, caterpillars spreading through sorghum, and the nuisance rain keeping northern cane harvesters out of the paddocks. 

For National Farm Safety week, potato grower Katherine Myers shares the story of her son Tommy, who is still recovering from a major injury suffered on the farm. Also, a look at the return on investment of QRIDA loans, and celebrating sunflowers. 

Purple passionfruit avoid an unpleasant future with the first new varieties in 20 years, a shipment of Australian mungbeans rejected by importer over chemical residues, and the tiny fish surviving on a former cattle station. 

Getting into the meaty issues with the future of outback butchers, how beef genetics are changing both the meat and dairy industries, and the RSPCA's new voluntary standard for chicken welfare. 

Using pomgamia to explore biofuels and grazing coexistence,tension over water use in the Taroom Trough, and saddling up for the rodeo in Charters Towers.

Queensland farmers call for stronger protections for prime cropping land to be protected from development, concerns Qld Hydro is withholding information about the Borumba project and the latest on the Blackall Woolscour.

The United States is investigating whether it should impose tariffs on Australian lamb, concerns proposed changes to critical minerals development approvals will prevent landholders from challenging projects, and dealing with data centres in the age of AI.

A Queensland grazier shares his experience hosting a visit from the boss of the new EPA, what it takes to select Brahman for sale, and what the escalation of conflict in the Strait of Hormuz means for fuel prices. 

Are graziers still getting bang for their cattle levy buck? A few weeks on from Australia hitting its quota for beef into China the market remains unsettled, and the Coen biosecurity facility in north Queensland set to reopen.  

The head of the new national EPA says its compliance efforts will focus on deliberate breaches of new land clearing legislation, a cactus grower shares his love of prickly plants, and meet one of the first indigenous female woolbrokers.