Agribusiness

Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s agricultural investment company, Harvest Road Group, has reported a big surge in annual profit to $7 million after a restructure combined the family’s expansive pastoral stations with their Harvey Beef business.

The state government will outlay $131.5 million of additional funds for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) in the upcoming budget.

CBH Group has awarded six of the nine contracts for its $150 million Network Strategy Expansion project, including four to local contractors WCP Civil and Georgiou Group.

A WA-based engineering company has built one of the first mobile abattoirs for processing premium meat, addressing farmer and animal welfare concerns by eliminating the need to transport animals.

Local timber businesses have about $100 million of investments in planning as they hope to benefit from demand for environmentally friendly products.

Major WA agribusinesses plan new investments to create scale and efficiency, while smaller operators are cooperating to access new markets with niche products.

Malaga-based Eneco Refresh, formerly Refresh Group, has used its stronger balance sheet to expand into the Northern Territory with the purchase of a bottled water factory in Darwin.

Farmed prawns producer Seafarms Group has raised $20 million via a share placement, and will conduct a share purchase plan to raise up to $4 million along with a $3 million debt-to-equity conversion.

Graincorp's plans to demerge its global malting business and list the new company on the ASX have been greeted warmly by investors.

Agtech startup Laconik has received a federal government grant, the only Western Australian-based business out of 15 across the country to receive a portion of a $5.3 million round of funding.

Wellard has sold its Wongan Hills feed mill, and Baldivis Pre-Export Quarantine lease in Western Australia, as well as its Condah Pre-Export Quarantine facility in Victoria, to Ausvision Rural Services.

Bremer Bay-based 888 Abalone has accused Ocean Grown Abalone of breaching a supply agreement by planning a future development for a hatchery.

A plant scientist from UWA has won a prestigious award for her research into the canola industry, aimed at slashing rates of crop disease.

Western Australian farmers remain the most confident in the nation, but they are entering 2019 with lowered expectations following last year’s bumper season, according to the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence survey.

Australia's visa rules have been relaxed to make it easier for farmers to hire skilled seasonal workers. The new rules also apply to tennis coaches, artists, dentists and anaesthetists among a handful of other professions.

Five years after being the subject of high profile police raids and multiple charges, the legal saga facing three Perth business people is over due to failures of the prosecution deemed “totally unacceptable” by the judge.

Woolworths has become the first national supermarket chain to dump its $1/litre milk range, with farmers saying Coles and Aldi must follow if they want Australian dairies to survive.

Wellard has posted a $2.9 million profit for the six months to December, up from a $7.4 million loss in the previous corresponding period, and its first profit since listing on the ASX over three years ago.

The state government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation have signed a $48 million scientific partnership for research into Western Australia’s grainbelt soils and boosting grain production for local growers.

The state government and the Western Rock Lobster Council have reached a comprise on the future of the industry, with the annual catch to increase by just 315 tonnes. However, details of how this will be delivered to the local market have not yet been worked out.

South Fremantle-based seafood company Mareterram has backed a takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Sea Harvest.

Perth’s Agristart accelerator program has won $485,000 of federal government funding to run three startup incubation programs in regional Western Australia, in Northam, Albany and Busselton.

CBH Group has announced a $128 million surplus for the year to September 2018, compared to the previous year’s result of $248 million which was boosted by a record grain harvest.

Lobsters were sold for as little as $30 per kilogram under an initiative to encourage domestic supply, according to an unpublished government report which found the Local Lobster Program at least partially met two major objectives but also raised numerous concerns.

Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly has signalled he may well walk back plans to take control of about 17 per cent of an enlarged local lobster catch, saying his priorities would be an International Lobster Festival in Perth and a domestic quota.

Crayfishermen will consider paying more in royalties to the state government as an alternative to Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly’s planned takeover of new licences, while concerns continue about the fragility of price premiums in the Chinese export market.

Opponents continue to blast government changes to lobster licensing arrangements as it emerges that, despite the state potentially pocketing nearly $70 million annually from the moves, a cost benefit analysis of the major policy shift unveiled in December was not undertaken.

Steven Lewis has been appointed chief executive at Southern Ports, effective January 14.

Western Australian grain growers have had one of their best ever years, with 16 million tonnes moving through cooperative handler CBH Group’s network, about 400,000 tonnes above August estimates.

Fremantle-based Ocean Grown Abalone has been granted a licence to develop 5,000 artificial reefs to harvest greenlip abalone at the company’s Flinders Bay lease, located in Augusta.

About 85 severely dehydrated cattle had to be put down and hundreds more were found already dead at a pastoral station in Western Australia's north.

Andrew Forrest’s agribusiness portfolio is set for a big expansion, with his Harvest Road Group planning a 60,000 head per year cattle development worth up to $50 million in the wheatbelt.