Western Australia Country Hour

Australia's obesity crisis is worsening, and experts say an over consumption of ultra processed foods is to blame.

Australia's peak body for truck drivers is launching a national campaign to try to stamp out an illegal courtesy signal used by the haulage industry for decades.

The wool market has surged again this week, with the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator up 109 cents to close at 1453 cents a kilogram clean, its highest level in more than three years.

A school bus driver in the state's Great Southern has called for urgent action over wandering livestock saying it's only a matter of time before a tragedy occurs.

DAFF is continuing its efforts to recover all the imported nappy pants that could contain the khapra beetle or larvae, that was found in a box of Little One's Ultra Dry Nappy Pants in walker size five earlier this month.

Consolidated Pastoral Company is officially the new owner of Rawlinna Station with the WA government signing-off on the pastoral lease and finalising the sale, almost seven months after the deal was struck.

A farmer in the Lakes district, in the state's south east, has a trial site on his property to try and find a control method for a small beetle called the cockchafer.

DPIRD's latest stock assessments show species like pink snapper, red emperor, and the iconic dhufish are under serious threat, even at risk of collapse.

The live sheep trading season has started this week in unprecedented circumstances, with not one livestock vessel confirmed to return to Australia between now and the end of the year.

WA's three main grain grower lobby groups have written to federal agriculture minister Julie Collins calling for an immediate 50 per cent reduction in the grower levy paid to the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

Nationals Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan doesn't believe net zero is working for Australia.

Agriculture, outdoor workers and critical infrastructure, such as telecommunications, will all be negatively affected by climate change. That's some of the key findings in Australia's first national climate risk assessment.

The Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner says WA is in a good position to learn from the mistakes made in the eastern states and ensure the energy transition to wind and solar has benefits for the whole community.

Across parts of Western Australia during springtime, there's a flower that blooms so bright you can see it from space. Canola was first introduced to WA back in the 1960s.

Community groups involved in controlling invasive pests and feral animals say their work is being compromised by the state government's new firearms legislation.

The local bee industry is using cameras and artificial intelligence to try to keep the destructive varroa mite out of Western Australia.

In the last four to six weeks there's been a significant increase in the number of WA sheep heading to the eastern states.

The Western Australian government has announced plans to create a new marine park that spans the whole of the Exmouth Gulf, about 1200 kilometres north of Perth.

The Bee Industry Council of Western Australia is urging all Western Australians to remain vigilant following the recent detection of varroa in South Australia's Riverland region.

A new ABC Science podcast, out today, reveals horses and cows are being cloned in Australia.

Six months after Consolidated Pastoral Company purchased Rawlinna Station the WA government is yet to sign-off on the pastoral lease and finalise the sale.

The Australian avocado industry has its eye on China as the next major export market.

WA producers have shown very little interest in the V and V Walsh forward contracts on offer since the start of the month.

Industrial action continues at CBH's  Kwinana Grain Terminal, where workers and the union, currently negotiating an enterprise agreement, intend to engage in rolling 24 hour work stoppages from Monday to Saturday next week.

The Australian Conservation Foundation and Greenpeace want Australia's supermarkets to have access to the National Livestock Identification System to ensure deforestation free beef meets the label specifications.

The owner of three struggling dairy companies in the state's South West has been handed a financial lifeline to keep the businesses afloat.

Mining company Ausgold has acquired over 800 hectares of land to advance the development of its Katanning Gold Project in Western Australia's Great Southern region.

West Australian riders Lucy and Brandon Fiore have finished as the third team in the 2025 Mongol Derby, the world's toughest horse race.

The head of a national pig hunting group believes the recent prosecution of two hunters in Western Australia's South West highlights the need for humane hunting practices.

The WA record price for lambs was smashed at the Muchea saleyard, just north of Perth yesterday, with a pen of 33 lambs selling for $400 a head, up $30 on the previous record set a couple of weeks ago at Katanning. 

Two feral pig hunters have been fined a significant amount of money for animal cruelty in Western Australia's South West.  

A Queensland couple who left the city life behind and wanted to strip back to basics in the bush are now running a full-time nudist camp.

Thanks to some recent good rain, WA is now on track to grow 22 million tonnes of grain.

Canada's canola seed has just been effectively locked out of China. Agricultural industry analyst Andrew Whitelaw says that's good news for Aussie farmers. 

The head of the Northern Biosecurity Group says the Mid West is anecdotally one of the worst locations in Western Australias for feral pig infestations. 

Todays we'll take a close look at calls for future grains research to be funded and coordinated by a farmer owned and lead organisation.

The first half of today's show comes direct from Kununurra for the grand opening of the Ord's new cotton gin. 

An acclaimed cattle breeder, affectionately known as "the Brahman lady", has offered a stern warning to anyone working with livestock. Get tested and vaccinated for Q Fever.

A South West baker is on a mission to change the way people think and cook, when it comes to food waste.

A prominent WA livestock producer says trespassers are often to blame for livestock straying out of their paddocks and onto local roads.

The mining industry's peak body, representing explorers, says tensions are starting to rise over land use in regional Australia with resource companies and the renewable energy sector competing for land.