February
The Bangkok teacher who saved the Lukin tuna empire
When pioneering fisherman Dinko Lukin died in 2011, nobody thought his wife – 31 years his junior – could save the business he had left drowning in debt.
January
Australia’s next robot farm wants to grow your burger garnish
Investors have lost billions on vertical farming start-ups, but a Gold Coast business says it has a model that stacks up, luring investment from Tribeca and Tayside.
November 2024
Meet the skincare company with 460pc growth
Identifying a niche is easy. Filling it – at scale – is the challenge, as these successful founders discovered.
September 2024
Farmers rate Labor policies as bigger threat than extreme weather
Farmers say their greatest challenges are adverse political and regulatory decisions, closely followed by price volatility and extreme weather events.
August 2024
Nufarm shares plunge after profit downgrade
The company was hit hard as it backtracks on guidance issued three months ago based on weak prices for farm chemicals and lower than expected returns on omega-3 canola oil.
Cannon-Brookes, Benioff-backed start-up lays off staff in US pullback
Loam Bio, a start-up that has raised more than $150 million from high-profile investors, has laid off the majority of its staff in the US.
July 2024
Potash giant says life about to get harder for BHP
Global fertiliser giant Nutrien predicts big challenges ahead for BHP as it tries to make an expensive leap into potash production.
Court ruling rejecting weedkiller link to cancer welcomed by farmers
Federal Court rejects class action linking Australia’s most widely used farm chemical, glyphosate, to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
May 2024
Nufarm boss says he wants even playing field, not handouts
Nufarm chief executive Greg Hunt says other nations treat grain production as a critical industry.
Fonterra puts its Australian dairy assets up for sale
The New Zealand-based co-operative is behind household brands such as Western Star butter and Mainland cheese and has eight local manufacturing sites.
Biofuels battle: GrainCorp puts $500m-plus price tag on oilseed plant
Robert Spurway says market was underestimating the cost of building a major expansion, and the potential returns amid growing demand for biofuels.
March 2024
‘It’s a lot cheaper than buying a Tesla’: low-carbon milk has arrived
Dairy producer links up with Tasmanian start-up to produce the world’s first low-emissions milk.
Rinehart boss blasts Labor’s ‘nature-positive’ agenda
Gina Rinehart’s business empire has hit out over what it argues are flawed plans to rewrite national environmental laws.
Farmers have $6b sitting in tax haven accounts
Australia’s farmers have almost $6 billion sitting in tax haven accounts and most are financially secure despite a much smaller national grain harvest and big fluctuations in cattle prices.
February 2024
WA lobster worth more than $150m slips through China trade ban
As it celebrates the Year of the Dragon, China is being supplied with big volumes of WA-caught “lucky red” lobster through unofficial trade routes.
Nufarm wants biofuel mandates to send agriculture flying
Nufarm chairman John Gillam says he wants government green fuel mandates to cash in on a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for agriculture.
January 2024
Joe Lewis’ reach on AACo board left out of US ban
In his plea deal, the UK billionaire relinquished control over board representation of any US-listed company. Australia’s AACo has two Lewis-linked directors.
Most farmers big winners from El Nino-defying rain
The cattle industry and summer crop producers are entering 2024 in good shape as rain continues to tumble down across the eastern states.
‘No PC, no d---head’ policy at AACo stoked safety fears: lawsuit
The beef giant proclaims a commitment to safety, but a workplace lawsuit alleges a philosophy made famous by footy teams had the opposite effect.
Rain to soften fall in farm export earnings from record high: forecast
The fall will be largely driven by lower crop export values as global prices for most commodities are expected to decline in 2023-24 due to higher global supply.