AgWatchers

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. 

Exposing the future of ag

We have Natalie Green, event organiser of the future ag expo, a new expo and conference held at the Melbourne showgrounds in April, which will display new ag technology and speakers (including us)

Causing a Hassell

We are joined by John Hassell, President of WA Farmers and Vice President of the National Farmers Federation. John is from Pingelly, Western Australia. 
In this chat, we discuss everything from climate change, live export, increasing efficiency in farm representation, protests in Europe, animal activism and a whole lot more. 

Pip off the old block

This week, we welcome Pip Courtney, the host of ABC Landline, onto the podcast. In this podcast, we talk about a range of topics from her favourite story, is Landline is representative of farming, the impact of technology on media and a whole lot more. 
If you enjoy the podcast leave a review on apple, and share with your friends and family. 

Will AI take over our farms?

We have a chat with Ben Pankhurst of Agtech by Design. Ben founded a business that uses AI/machine learning to detect and spray weeds in paddocks. 
During this discussion we explain what AI actually is, whether it will lead to our demise and a whole lot more. 

What in the world?

It's just the two of us, as Matt and Andrew chat about what's happening in grain and livestock markets. We also give an educational lesson on the Hawthorne effect. 

Getting new foods on supermarket shelves.

We chat with Angeline Achariya, CEO of Innovation Gamechangers. Angeline worked in some of the world's biggest food companies, developing new products that end up on supermarket shelves. 
In this interesting discussion, we discuss everything from cinnamon twisties to fried food. 
Angeline will be presenting at the Futureagexpo in Melbourne in April alongside Andrew and Matt. You can find out about the expo at futureagexpo.com.au

It's a bug's life.

We have a chat with Olympia Yarger, CEO of Goterra. A company turning food waste into fertilizer and food/feed. 
Olympia is was the Australian of the year for ACT in 2023, and has a species of fly named after her. She will be presenting at the future ag expo in Melbourne next month (futureagexpo.com.au). 
In this very lighthearted podcast we chat about everything from waste removal, animal feed and fertilizer shortages, and crossfitters use of cricket powder.........

AgWatchers go to the movies with Just a Farmer.

We were excited to have the producer, writer and main after of the new movie 'Just a Farmer'. Leila and Sean McDougall are farmers from Western Victoria who have moved into the movie business. This film, set in Tatyoon, Western Victoria, is a fascinating film funded and created by farmers and has a host of big-name Australian actors. Unfortunately, the AgWatchers were not picked up in the casting of this. The film is being released in cinemas around the country on the 21st of March; make sure you support local film production (and farmers) by going along. Watch the trailer by clicking here
Find a cinema near you by clicking here

Market Morsel - A conversation about commodities.

Just the two of us. Matt and Andrew have a conversation about livestock, grain and fertilizer pricing. Along with a few other tangents. 

Keeping it rural

We have a chat with Dimity Smith, of Gro Events and Gro Rural. 
As always we cover a huge range of topics; should events be rural or in cities, finding rural talent for contracts, running an EP3 commodities course in New Caledonia, Barnaby Joyce on a night out and a whole lot more. 

Agriculture for all

We have a chat with Madeleine Stuchbery, a journalist with the Weekly Times. We chat about our recent article about the inclusion of women on agricultural boards. 
In this chat we delve into diversity, inclusion, access to services in regions, paying for content and a whole lot more.  
You can read her article by clicking here

The Queen of Sheepa

On this podcast, we have Jo Hall, CEO of Wool Producers Australia (WPA). Jo represents the interests of wool growers across the country. She discusses why WPA have removed support for the governments plan to mandate EID tags in sheep, their views on the new biosecurity levy and the prospect of processing more wool within Australia rather than sending it all to China. 

Ute ban, MV Bahijah and the NFF relationship with government.

We have David Jochinke, the current president of the NFF and the immediate previous VFF president onto the podcast for a chat after 3 months in the NFF president role. In this podcast, we discuss various topics, including government policy, the MV Bahijah in Freo, the ban on utes and a lot more. 
Remember to share the podcast with your friends and family.  

This is a conversation starter

Mental wellness is a huge issue in regional areas, and one that we need to more open about and remove the stigma.
We have a chat with Jason Banks, the CO-Ceo of TIACS aka This is a conversation starter. This organisation, set up by the founders of Trade Mutt (See here), is a counselling service for blue-collar workers - truckies, tradies and farmers. 
This service provides eight free counselling sessions for those who need to get on top of their mental fitness. The conversations was very enlightening. 
If you want someone to chat to, call or SMS 0488846988 or visit tiacs.org

Skyes the limit in agtech.

We have a chat with Skye Raward, co-founder of Farmers2Founders, a program to assist Australian food producers in collaborating with tech developers. 
In this discussion, we cover topics from getting investment to women in tech. As a bonus, a list of Scottish inventions is provided.