Keeping It Casual: Navigating the Gauntlet of Casual Employment
While the use of casual labour is a common way of managing peak workloads in many agricultural industries, uncertainty around what constitutes ‘casual’ poses a significant risk to employers. In 2016, more than 2.5 million employees were engaged on a casual work basis, comprising almost 25% of the national labour force. While casual workers are […]
Hands Off: Industry Invests Millions to Stop Consumers Squeezing Avocados
Every year, millions of innocent avocados are subjected to the worst kind of abuse. Sitting quietly on the supermarket shelf, they are prodded, squeezed and harassed by consumers looking for a ‘perfectly’ ripe avo. This man-handling causes untold physical damage to the beloved fruit, with flesh bruising more likely as the fruit ripens. One survey […]
Backpacker Visa Changes an Improvement for Regional Employers, but not a Complete Solution.
Changes to the Working Holiday Maker visa program will make employing seasonal staff easier for Australian employers but are not the complete solution the industry has been seeking, according to industry lobby groups. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the changes earlier this month but cautioned that engaging Australian workers was still a primary focus for […]
Dry Conditions Loom Over Australian Agriculture
The Big Dry continues to grip many parts of Australia in drought, despite some areas having received encouraging recent rains. October rains across northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland came mostly from thunderstorms, providing only patchy coverage. “To give one example, Dubbo, which has had a direct hit from a couple of thunderstorms, has […]
Agriculture Minister Slams Supermarkets for Milk Levy ‘Farce’
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has backflipped on his opinion of the 10c/litre milk levy imposed by Coles and Woolworths, claiming that the initiative had become an ‘empty media stunt’. Only last month, Minister Littleproud applauded Woolworths for instigating the levy on branded milk products, quoted in a media release saying “Good on you, Woolies.” and […]
Technology Shines at World’s First Fully Autonomous Farm
Meet Angus the farmer. Weighing in at 450kgs, he’s probably on the larger side of most farmers you know, but in actual fact Angus is one of the world’s first mobile robot farmers, working in an ultra high-tech warehouse in Silicon Valley. Iron Ox, the owner of Angus, operates the world’s first fully autonomous farm […]
Swimming Upstream: Advances in Technology Make Salmon Farming More Sustainable
While the adoption of technology has been widely recognised in traditional livestock sectors, several newly developed applications are helping to improve the production and sustainability of the world’s large-scale salmon farms. In Norway, one company is testing the use of facial recognition software to identify and store information on the health of individual fish. Cameras […]