Agriculture

NSW irrigator hit with $350,000 fine for water theft offences

Moree Plains company found guilty of knowingly taking water with faulty metering equipment for crops such as cotton

Fleur Connick

02, Feb, 2023 @2:00 PM

The Observer view on the UK’s toxic stance on sugar farming | Observer editorial

Neonicotinoids kill bees and destroy the environment. A truly green government would find a better solution to the problem of aphid-borne disease

Observer editorial

29, Jan, 2023 @7:00 AM

No sunlight, no soil – no worries as vertical farming looks stacked with promise

Stacked Farm can produce perfect-looking strawberries, tomatoes and baby cos all year round. But will high energy inputs be its achilles heel?

Donna Lu

28, Jan, 2023 @7:00 PM

Farmers’ union called UK environment targets ‘irrational’ and ‘unachievable’

NFU raised questions over water pollution, tree planting and rewilding targets, according to documents

Helena Horton Environment reporter

27, Jan, 2023 @3:20 PM

Endangered foods: why our diet is narrower than ever – and the UK urgently needs to save these seven foods

Cheshire cheese, beremeal and norfolk beefing apples are among the UK foods at risk of vanishing for ever. And it’s not just our palates that will suffer, but the planet

Clare Finney

23, Jan, 2023 @10:00 AM

Readers reply: why is the surname Farmer uncommon when there were so many farmers for so long?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

22, Jan, 2023 @2:00 PM

Kenya declares war on millions of birds after they raid crops

Toxic pesticides used to eradicate grain-eating quelea may harm the country’s endangered raptors, say conservationists

Peter Muiruri in Nairobi

17, Jan, 2023 @6:00 AM

Have we reached ‘peak meat’? Why one country is trying to limit its number of livestock

Dutch farms are feeling the squeeze from EU rules and need to make sweeping changes to the farm system – could a huge producer like the US follow suit?

Senay Boztas in Amsterdam

16, Jan, 2023 @11:00 AM

Australian beef exports slumped to 19-year low in 2022 after wild weather and labour shortages

Meat and Livestock Australia say farmers were holding on to cattle to rebuild herds after successive natural disasters

Khaled Al Khawaldeh

12, Jan, 2023 @2:40 AM

Coalition scrapped pesticide monitoring program that found residues 90 times the limit on strawberries

The pilot program that ran in 2013 was cancelled by then agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce and the results never released

Anne Davies

11, Jan, 2023 @12:00 AM

Australia ‘decades’ behind in phasing out battery-farmed eggs, animal advocates say

Country will not end practice until 2036 – though New Zealand ban came into effect on 1 January