This Month
‘Authentic’ Jeremy Clarkson tops polls in disaffected, desperate UK
His shift from Top Gear cars to Diddly Squat cows has so enhanced Clarkson’s everyman appeal that people are asking if a political future beckons.
- Hans van Leeuwen
October
Project Crescent: Ellerston taps into WA’s wheat belt with agri bet
The deal terms mean it can force an IPO of the leading John Deere agricultural equipment distributor after three years.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Exclusive
- Managed funds
Ed Peter’s Duxton empire in pain as it cuts jobs, sells properties
The former bank executive has built a considerable asset management business with wealthy backers. But tough times have forced it to restructure – and shrink.
- Primrose Riordan and Simon Evans
September
Why the family farm has become a huge inheritance challenge
Succession planning can be extremely difficult, but it doesn’t have to be if you start talking early and come up with a workable strategy.
- Larry Schlesinger
August
The beef baron, the waste magnate and the battle for Brisbane
A bustling weekend farmer’s market on the city’s fringes has emerged as a battleground in a stoush between two industry titans.
- James Hall
July
Cattle farmers go to war with Labor over class action
Cattle farmers have accused Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus of launching an appalling, contemptuous and “outrageously misleading” attack on them.
- Ronald Mizen
- Exclusive
- Federal election
Cattle farmers trying to boost profits at taxpayers’ expense: Labor
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the government was not budging on its $215 million offer to settle a decade-old class action.
- Ronald Mizen
March
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.
- Brad Thompson
January
- Exclusive
- Rich List
Inside the descent into chaos at a Chinese billionaire’s cattle empire
“My view was that animals would die, employees would leave, the companies would be sued, and then more cattle would die.”
- Primrose Riordan
November 2023
John Kahlbetzer, from oil rigs to the Rich List, dies
German-born Kahlbetzer worked in the fossil fuel industry after arriving in Australia in his early 20s before his entrepreneurial flair built a vast fortune.
- Updated
- Brad Thompson
July 2023
What Robert Costa thinks of $1.6b takeover offer
The co-founder of Costa Group sees spinning off part of Australia’s biggest horticulture business as a smart option, amid a $1.6 billion private equity approach.
- Brad Thompson
May 2023
Labor offers $215m to end decade-old live export legal stoush
Cattle farmers have been offered the money to end the court battle over Labor’s 2011 temporary ban, well below the industry’s $2 billion demand.
- Ronald Mizen
March 2023
Banker warns super tax may force ‘a hell of a lot’ of farmers to sell
AMP director Mike Hirst, who owns a cattle farm near Geelong, says Labor’s proposal could force farmers who “eke out a living” on the land to sell their properties.
- Gus McCubbing and Hannah Wootton
January 2023
- Explainer
- Rural property
Billionaire cattle barons cash in on booming beef prices
Gina Rinehart and Brett Blundy offloading up to $1 billion worth of property, in a once in a generation change.
- Larry Schlesinger and Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
October 2022
- Opinion
- Agriculture
A farmer lobbyist pushes the panic button
Policymakers should ignore the Victorian Farmers Federation’s warning that Australia could be heading into a famine because of poor planning.
- Aaron Patrick
July 2022
Fish and Impossible Foods make Singapore an unlikely farm powerhouse
The city-state’s $417 billion investment fund has thrown its weight behind agriculture, putting it in a prime place to cope with the worsening global food crisis.
- David Ramli
March 2022
- Opinion
- Opinion
Farms have never been so lucrative – and lobbyists want more subsidies
A compliant rural media helps the National Farners’ Federation, which this week sought funding for a bureaucracy to lobby for itself.
- Aaron Patrick
Farm gate output to hit record $81b in 2022
Almost perfect growing conditions and booming prices will help Australian farmers produce a record $81 billion in produce – $3 billion more than previously expected.
- Ronald Mizen
October 2021
- Opinion
- Climate policy
Privileged farmers seek special treatment in climate deal
The case for a rural slush fund in return for farmers’ support for a net-zero-by-2050 climate target is dubious.
- Aaron Patrick
September 2021
Sheep farm sells $720k over reserve as Sir Michael Hintze lists again
Moonbah in Condobolin attracted bids from across the country as farmers look to expand their businesses amid record prices for beef and other commodities.
- Larry Schlesinger