News Articles for Department of Agriculture and Food

The federal government has refused an exemption to its live export ban that would have allowed 56,000 sheep to be transported to the Middle East, and they will now be sent to abattoirs in Western Australia.

The Manjimup-bred burgundy apple Bravo is closer to being sold internationally, after businesses in Europe and South Africa signed an MOU to progress plans for its commercialisation.

The live export industry is angry the ban on shipping sheep to the Middle East during the northern summer has been extended by one month, with the Nationals WA saying the sector was left "bereft of confidence".

Olive oil, chocolate, avocados, marron and cider are among a number of Western Australian products that are ideal for local industry to target as premium markets, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Agriculture and food released Thursday night.

Poultry producer Ingham's Chicken will invest more than $70 million to build a new feed mill near Muchea as part of a plan to grow production volumes in Western Australia.

The state government has cut the number of its departments from 41 to 25, with a fifth of jobs in the Senior Executive Service – Western Australia's highest-paid bureaucrats – to go.

With a number of WA's biggest businesses relying on unmanned drones to reduce surveying and inspection costs, new schools are teaching drone pilots how to fly.

The Housing Authority has awarded a $2.5 million contract to CWD Builders-Developers for the construction of six four-bedroom dwellings in Broome.

With CBH Group in the midst of an internal review of its structure, Business News thought it an opportune time to sit down with CEO Andrew “Andy” Crane at Julio's in West Perth to discuss his career to date, and the grain cooperative's future.

A balancing act between the science of plant breeding and consumer preferences has produced a new apple variety, developed in Manjimup, in WA's South West.

West Leederville-based commercial fishing company Austral Fisheries has become the first seafood business in the world to be certified as carbon neutral.

Rob Delane has been appointed as a director to establish and lead a special agriculture unit within the Department of State Development.

SPECIAL REPORT: It has been a tough year for job seekers in WA, but some new sectors have emerged to keep the state's employment levels at record highs.

Western Australia risks falling behind its competitors in agriculture and could miss out on making the most of opportunities in Asia, according to panelists at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia discussion on the industry today.

Bannister Downs Dairy Company managing director Sue Daubney has won the Industry Advocacy award at the 2015 Women in Industry Awards in Sydney.

THE state's live cattle exporters are preparing for an improved season ahead, while farmers in the processed meat market have already enjoyed a dramatic improvement in fortunes so far this year.

State upper house member Rick Mazza has taken a leading role in the debate about the state's potato bureaucracy, the Potato Marketing Corporation.

The state's agricultural industry will require almost $600 billion of investment by 2050 to improve productivity and rationalise production in a bid to access Asian markets, according to a new report released by KPMG for the state Department of Agriculture and Food.

As the summer's harvest draws to a close, CBH Group has announced that this year's crop production was the fourth highest on record.

The Department of Finance and the Department of Commerce are among those cutting wage costs hardest as the state government reacts to reduced revenue, according to the latest BNiQ research.

The state's carrot sector has undergone a period of major export growth.

Two farming groups have secured new parcels of irrigated land in the Ord Valley, part of the state government's Ord-East Kimberley Expansion Project.

Dean Nalder has been stripped of his finance portfolio as part of a cabinet reshuffle after conflict of interest controversies.

The falling Australian dollar has been a positive development for growers of the state's two largest agricultural exports as the harvest cranks up across the grain belt.

The state government has granted approval for an Augusta-based aquaculture company to expand its abalone production.

WA potatoes grow in a unique regulatory climate.

Coles stores in Western Australia will be selling WAFarmers branded milk from today, with part of the proceeds from sales going to development of the state's agricultural industry.

President Xi Jinping of China is poised to sign a free trade agreement with Australia on Monday following the G20 summit in Brisbane, after nearly a decade of negotiations.

Cattle and lamb slaughters have continued on a strong upwards trend in September 2014, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The state government has announced a further investment in the local agriculture industry, with nearly $10 million to go to a new sheep business centre in Katanning.

Agricultural producers might need to think about the structure of the industry in order to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity in the global food trade, Premier Colin Barnett has said while giving the 2014 Muresk lecture.

Drought-plagued farmers will be the beneficiaries of a new concessional loans scheme announced by the state and federal governments today.

The state government today launched a two-year project to increase the supply of labour to the agrifood industry through migration, workforce development and training.

The state government has today unveiled the Northern Beef Futures project, a $15 million investment in supply chain and trade development that it says will have a flow on benefit of half a billion dollars across the community.

An unusual bid to produce milk powder using energy generated from coal could see Western Australia export 30,000 tonnes of milk to growing dairy markets in Asia.