AgWatchers

The farmer with many hats

We have a chat with renowned Esperance farmer Mic Fels. Over the years, Mic has expanded his farm, set up a software and machinery implement company, advocated for Australian agriculture, and is now running for preselection in the Swan electorate. 
 
We have a good chat about a range of topics from small business to advocacy. 

Inheriting problems and solutions.

We have a chat with Gillian Fennell aka Stationmum101. She has a range of roles in agriculture. In this podcast, we discuss succession, which seems to be a major issue in farming communities. 
If you are going through this process, you might get some insights. 

AgTechWatchers: He's a funghi

We have a chat with Guy Webb, the founder of Loam Bio. In this podcast, we learn about adding fungal spores along with your seed to increase carbon in soils. This was an interesting chat with a lot of puns. 
This is a novel technology that hopes to add carbon but also increase yields. A must-have listen if you are growing crops. 

Don't be a careless farmer, or you might end up in a crop of trouble

In this podcast we have a chat with Stevi Howdle, the executive office of Farmsafe Australia. It is farm safety week, and we have a chat about the importance of safety on farm, why there are so many accidents, and what causes the arguments. 
 
You can follow them on twitter/x at @farmsafeaust or visit farmsafe.org.au

The Agwatchers find love.........

A bit more of a lighthearted topic this week. We chat to Mia Ryan, the founder of Howdy. Howdy is a dating app like tinder or grindr but is designed for people in regional areas. If you want tips on dating, Matt and Andrew give their advice. We also discussed red and beige flags, situationships, catfishing, polyamory, wearing crocs on a first date, and a lot more. It's a good, fun episode, and if you are single (or cheating), you should consider getting on the Howdy app. 

Going viral in agriculture

We have a chat with award-winning Mandy Matthews, AKA rattle ya dags.  Mandy works in the sheep industry in Western Australia, both on farms and livestock vessels. 
She was recently the winner of a services to industry award. 
We talk about a range of topics, life on a boat, will the boats come back, campaigning for live export and a whole lot more. 

The final end for live sheep exports?

Overnight, the senate voted through the bill to ban live sheep exports from Australia. In May 2028, there will be no more sheep going via boat. 
In this podcast, we thought we would have a chat among ourselves about a range of topics: where prices will go, the plan B, changing the government, the timeframe for a ban and a lot more. 
If you are struggling with the impact of this phase out, remember there are people you can chat to. Feel free to contact us, if you need a yarn or to vent. 

Senate decisions, livestock prices doubling and grain prices crashing

A quick market update from the two of us. We have a chat about the live export bill going through the senate, the livestock market, grain market and urea imports being record high. 

Colin Bettles: Robots, peak body funding, chemicals and a lot more.

We have a chat with Colin Bettles, CEO of Grain Producers Australia. We chat about the funding of peak bodies (follow on from Emma Germano podcast), autonomous vehicles in ag, chemical regulation and a whole lot more.  

The onus is on you to count carbon on farm.

We have a chat with Will Onus, co-founder of Ruminati. We have a chat about baselines for emissions reporting, and what is going to be happening in this space in the coming years. You might be opposed to carbon accounting etc, but it is coming, so a worthwhile listen for Australian farmers. 

Court cases, peak body funding and the VFF

We had a long discussion with Emma Germano, the outgoing president of the Victorian Farmers Federation. In this podcast, we discuss the events of the VFF over the past year, including three court cases. 
In breaking news, Emma tells us that she is canceling the VFF funding of several peak bodies. Remember, the AgWatchers podcast is an unbiased platform. If you want to come on for a chat, get in touch. 

Check yo self, before you represent yo self.

We have a chat with Tony Maher, CEO of the National Farmers Federation. In this discussion, we ask the important questions, like did they manage to eat their breakfast before walking out of the Crop Life budget breakfast. You will only find out that exclusive, and much more by listening to this podcast. Remember to subscribe and share with your friends and family. 
 
 

Drag acts, advocacy, kebabs and communicating with the city.

We have Milly Nolan on the podcast, who was formerly with Humans of Agriculture and the livestock collective. We talk about communication between ag and non-ag, advocacy in general, our shared experience after dark, the live sheep export phase, her goals for a new job beyond the dole and psychology/personality tests. 

Baby Reindeer, livestock and grain pricing.

A quick chat where we cover off on baby reindeer, livestock and grain pricing. 

The state of the government.

We have a chat with David Littleproud about the live export phase-out, the biosecurity levy, the cattle live ex payout and a whole lot more. 

The rise of the machines

We have a chat with an old colleague of AgWatchers, Michael De Kleuver. Michael has just set up the world's nearly completely autonomous wool-handling warehouse.  
A range of topics are covered - Matt losing, getting labour, Trump winning, the wool market being a frog and the concerns about the sheep industry. 
 

Trump, wheat rally and virus in the meat

Just the two of this week, as we haven't had the time to get a guest on. A quick market update covering the rally in the wheat market, bird flu in the US cattle, our predictions for Trump and a bit more. 

Happy hour with the Dry Farmer

We have another chat with Trevor Whittington, CEO of WA Farmers and author of the Dry Farmer (click here). As always on our chat with Trevor, we discuss a range of topics. 
Dry weather in WA, the future of the sheep industry, the announcement of state funding in WA to help dry farmers and a lot more. 

Praise to the meat.

We record a podcast with animal scientist Robert Hewitt; Robert goes by the Twitter handle @meat_evangalist and has a very data and objective approach to his online debates. 
In this podcast, we talk about how the pig industry has advanced production, lessons that cattle/sheep could learn from pork, how animal activists have some value and the retailing of pork. 

What's happening in the ag markets?

We do a quick market summary of what is happening across grains and livestock.