Queensland Country Hour

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.

The head of Australia's first National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) John Bradley says the agency will focus its efforts on deliberate breaches of new land clearing rules, not farmers trying to do the right thing. 

A south-east Queensland business fined for sending a pallet of bricks infested with fire ants to a Bowen Basin mine site, why can no longer sell Moringa as a food in Australia, and can coffee's boom benefit farmers?

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.

Testing underway on a suspected case of H5N1 bird flu identified in a seabird at Hawks Nest in NSW. As the new EPBC takes effect, farmers and conservationists share their views of the laws, and meet Bill Webb, the man who makes better belts than RM!

Junction View landholders meet to discuss sandstone quarry concerns, milking spiders to fight varroa mites, and the flystrike breakthrough combining nanotechnology and tea tree oil.  

A plant pathogen being readied to spread on the wind to fight Lantana. The sandstone quarry proposal that has graziers worried. And sharing farm jokes on international joke day.  

Value of Aussie horticulture doubles in a decade, the federal government is investigating Brazilian meat producer JBS over its use of student visas at Australia's largest beef abattoir in southern Queensland. And Birdsville's tough tourism season. 

Concerns as Telstra phases out the Customer Access Network radio system, why the pork industry wants the same country of origin labelling as seafood, and Australia's largest lake, Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre transformed by record wet. 

Bradley and Anne-Marie Pike nearly lost it all in 2018. Instead of dwelling on what was gone, the family used the bushfire that threatened their home and farm as a catalyst to change. 

Qld's looming pollinator shortage, the state government backflips on protecting the Condamine Alluvium, finding and keeping love in the bush. 

Murray Darling Basin review report released, the research challenging assumptions about who is a farmer, and Australia's locust outlook forecasts moderate-to-high infestation risk.

Qld DPI's budget hits $863 million, reef water quality strategy backed by $2 billion, and allegations raw peanuts are being imported illegally by the container load. 

Farmers retain access to Paraquat, but Parksinsons Australia vows to fight the APVMA's decision, Qld's chief vet outlines our bird flu preparedness, and why parents are worried about the future of distance education. 

Vigilance urged over detection of H5N1 bird flu in WA, Macadamia's booming in the North, and the peanut industry stays confident even in the midst of production pressure. 

Proposed Gladstone urea plant has pre-sold 10 years of supply, worth $2.4 billion. Australia hits its beef quota for exports to China, and northern beekeepers prepare for the inevitable arrival of varroa destructor mite. 

Russian hackers The Gentlemen have claimed responsibility for a ransomware attack on Mackay Sugar. The impact of data centres on Australian farm land, and celebrating the voice of the shows, Angus Lane. 

After studying the phenomenon for decades, Dr Stone says in the past the moderate El Ninos have wreaked the most havoc on eastern Australia. He explains why the strength of the event is not a good predictor of the severity. 

El Nino is official, but does the strength of the event mean you should expect the worst? The latest on the Philippines request to allow banana imports, and the 'mud-guts' steer that put on 3.43 kilos a day at Paddock to Palate. 

There's more fertiliser on the way to Australia, but some importers are not happy about it. The latest detection of fire ants in Qld, and $3 million to kickstart Emu Swamp Dam ... again. 

Australia to fund $1 million worth of lumpy skin disease vaccines for Indonesia, what the agreement between the US and Iran means for shipping, and celebrating Marto's Mangoes big win. 

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.

20 years ago Smut disease threatened to destroy sugarcane farming, instead it reshaped the industry. A saddle maker explores the leatherwork resurgence, and go behind the scenes with #farmlife creator Mitchell Coombs.  

Australia's cotton industry is preparing for an invasion... of sorts. Beef producer Bryce Camm recognised in the King's Birthday Honours and the technology predicting bruises in strawberries before they head to market. 

In the late 1990s Matthew Peart's Carnarvon Range property, about 600 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, was gripped by pasture rundown.