AgWatchersX EP12: What is happening with grain, fert and livestock

Bigger crops mean bigger levy collections for GRDC, and farmers want to know how GRDC spends that money. This week, Nigel Hart, GRDC's Managing Director, sits down with Matt and Andrew to explain what’s being funded, how research gets prioritised, and why profitability matters more than just growing bigger crops. They dig into the cost-price squeeze hurting margins, what GRDC is doing about nitrogen costs, weed management, and on-farm storage, and how growers can actually influence where research dollars go. If you pay the levy, you need to hear this conversation. Learn how GRDC decides what to fund, what happens at national grower forums, and why a grain farmer’s paddock observations matter as much as laboratory research.

Andrew is on holiday. Matt has been travelling - but here is the only update on ag markets that you need.

Markets are moving, and there is plenty to unpack in this AgWatchers X update. We look at the sharp rally in global wheat markets as Black Sea supply risks finally begin to bite, with Russian export flows slowing and the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict putting a sizeable chunk of global wheat and barley exports at risk. We also discuss why Australian growers need to resist the temptation to chase the top of the market and instead use rallies to average up their grain sales. On top of that, weakening US and European corn prospects could provide further support to wheat prices. On livestock, we cover Australian cattle prices, the impact of Chinese and South Korean beef safeguards, and Donald Trump’s latest moves to increase beef imports into the US in an attempt to ease consumer prices. We also look at the growing threat facing Australian sheepmeat exports, with the US inquiry into imported lamb potentially opening the door to significant tariffs. With sheep prices beginning to ease ahead of the spring flush, there is plenty happening across both grain and livestock markets.

What does AI actually mean for the future of Australian agriculture? Andrew and Matt are joined by grain and pork producer Sharon Starick, Chair of the GRDC and the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations, to discuss how artificial intelligence and new technology are changing the agricultural workforce. They look at where AI can genuinely improve productivity, which jobs and skills may change, and why experience, critical thinking and human judgement remain difficult to replace. Sharon also shares a cautionary example from her own canola crop, where ChatGPT and the agronomist came up with very different diagnoses. The conversation ranges from automating the boring jobs on farm to cybersecurity, data ownership, robotics, research, the skills agriculture will need from the next generation and whether AI might actually make a career in agriculture more attractive. Plus pigs, black pudding, Powderfinger and the important distinction between artificial intelligence, artificial insemination and avian influenza.Remember and support the podcast by sharing with your friends and family.

AI, agtech and automation are changing agriculture fast, but are relationships becoming more valuable, not less? This week on AgWatchers, Matt and Andrew are joined by Peta Ward, Westpac’s Managing Director, Regional Commercial & Agribusiness, to discuss innovation on farm, the next generation of agricultural leaders and why Westpac is putting bankers back into regional communities. They also talk regional careers, diversity, the post-COVID shift back to the bush and why understanding the people behind a farm business still matters in an increasingly digital world. Plus, somehow, polar bear nutrition enters the conversation. Listen now at episode3.net/links.