Agribusiness buzz in brief

An ongoing sell-off of overseas assets will also see the farmer co-operative pay an extra $740m to shareholders, with a proposed tax-free capital return to farmer owners and unit holders of around NZ50 cents a share by October when it sells its majority stake in Chile's Soprole.

Fonterra has been exiting underperforming overseas assets after its debts and failed to deliver the hoped-for profits from an expansion drive, however it is continuing its full ownership of Fonterra Australia.

The co-op upgraded forecast full year normalised earnings from between NZ50 cents and NZ70c a share to NZ50-NZ75c.

Chief executive officer, Miles Hurrell, said the first half results showed the co-op was performing well, and while milk powder prices had softened, protein prices had been high, which was reflected in its earnings lift.

The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association has rejected a proposal by an Infrastructure and Transport Ministers meeting to increase heavy vehicle charges by between six and 10 per cent annually for the next three years.

The ALRTA had recommended 3pc increases commencing 2023-24.

In its submission to the National Transport Commission, ALRTA argued road repairs relating to floods and bushfires should not be funded by the heavy vehicle cost-base.

Trucks had not caused this damage and should not be required to pay.

It said road expenditure figures supplied by state and local governments to commission were not substantiated or subject to third party audi and the trucking industry was not consulted on road works.

ALRTA also noted road works were often poor quality, delivering sub-standard pavements and ongoing maintenance costs and thus roads which should last 20-plus years were only lasting months.

Farm services heavyweight, Elders, has expanded its broking and financial services interests in South Australian, buying home loan and financial services provider, Zobel.

Zobel is the largest regional loan broker in SA operating branches in Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, Naracoorte, Whyalla and Torquay in Victoria.

Elders financial services and network improvement manager, Nick Clark, said the acquisition was an exciting opportunity to boost Elders' regional and metropolitan reach.

The Zobel network, which would retain its offices and nine direct brokers, was complementary to Elders' real estate network," he said.

"Leveraging Elders strong market share of real estate to provide leads into Zobel will grow the business further in an organic approach."

Retiring Zobel principal, Andrew Zobel, said since the firm established in 1999 its business footprint had grown significantly and he was excited to embrace the opportunity to grow more with the Elders real estate brand.

"I am proud to leave an award-winning top broker firm in SA in the safe hands."

West Australian plant nutrition company, RLF AgTech, has further expanded its South East Asian distribution reach, after entering the Philippines market with an exclusive distribution agreement with Taipan Brand Farms.

The subsidiary of Jardine Distribution Inc has initial intentions to buy product worth $8.78 million in the next five years with an option to extend the agreement.

Field trials conducted on RLF's new Veridium seed priming technology are set to start with JDI, while import registrations are being processed.

RLF AgTech's managing director Ken Hancock said use of the company's liquid fertiliser product had proven to increase yields and soil resilience and had potential to increase food production and food security in the region.

"Growing demand for our product across a number of overseas emerging and established markets continues to demonstrate that we are successfully delivering on our outlined growth initiatives and sales targets."

RLF AgTech claims crops grown with its's plant nutrition products reduce the need for chemical fertilisers by about 20 per cent and can increase in yields as much as 30pc.

Northern Victorian liquid fertiliser manufacturer SLTEC Fertilisers is celebrating the overall Business of the Year Award title and Excellence in Manufacturing Award in the Campaspe Murray Business Excellence Awards.

Judges described SLTEC as an outstanding business, with a clear direction, culture and a diverse team to work towards continual growth in the businesses and customer connections.

The Tongala-based business, which started in 2005 with a vision to develop fluid fertilisers for the horticultural industry, now employs 32 people.

Owner and managing director, Jamie McMaster, said while SLTEC had won a federal grant to rapidly expand its manufacturing facilities under the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative last year, the business wouldn't be anything without its customers and employees.

Fresh food distribution company, In2Food Group, has gone into liquidation, again, owing between $10m and $20m to about 1000 creditors.

Until mid-2021, the supplier of fruit and vegetables to cafes, restaurants, aged care homes and commercial kitchens had traded as Yarra Valley Farms Australia, but collapsed under pressure from pandemic lockdowns, and problems associated with moving into prepared meals sales.

Attempts to recover from the pandemic as the reborn In2Food Group, with a strategy of buying other businesses, are believed to have contributed to its collapse.

In2Food Group was placed into voluntary administration earlier this month, managed by receivers HLB Mann Judd.

The company's Sydney and Melbourne operations, which employed about 200 staff, stopped trading before receivers were called in, but other businesses around Australia have continued.

Hort Innovation will invest nearly $1 million to assess if new citrus varieties are suited to Australian growing conditions.

The horticulture industry research and marketing body's citrus levy will fund the $987,000 project to provide independent assessments of the performance of new citrus varieties, as well as testing for "trueness to type", at Dareton in South West NSW and in Western Australia.

The project builds on previous citrus variety projects, with the aim of measuring tree attributes desirable for Australian growers, and consumers domestically and overseas.

The assessments would also look at fruit quality, tree yield and fruit size and sweetness, and assess issues producers might need to consider when growing the trees.

The project is part of a suite of investments for the citrus industry focused on variety and rootstock evaluation and breeding, complementing biosecurity-related projects to protect the citrus production base in Australia.

Wineries looking to enter the world's largest wine market will get extra support from new investments from the South Australian Department for Trade and Investment, Wine Victoria and Wines of Western Australia.

The three states are backing Wine Australia's US Market Entry Program which provides guidance on compliance, pricing, logistics and marketing, as well as assisting wineries finding routes to market, either through importers, brokers or direct import orders with retailers.

In 2023-24 the SA Government is funding half the participation costs for 30 spots in the program, Wine Victoria for 20 spots, and Wines of Western Australia for five spots.

Wine Australia's Americas regional general manager, Aaron Ridgway, said the successful wineries can cash in on the current growth and premiumisation of the Australian category in the US market.

"More Australian wineries are exporting to the US than in the past 10 years, including at higher price points, which contributes to a more diverse, premium and resilient category and helping show the variety of wine from Australia," he said.

In 2022 Australian wine exports to the US grew 13 per cent to 140 million litres and it remains Australia's largest export market by value, at $390m.

The Australian Farm Institute's annual Roundtable event on July 4 will focus on ESG capability and targets in agriculture, and early bird registrations have opened for attendees.

Speakers at last year's event explored the meaning of environment, social and governance (ESG) credentials in agriculture and looked at jargon busting and what agricultural businesses will need to know about ESG reporting.

The next step in the ESG landscape, which many ag-related initiatives are struggling with, is setting goals and targets relating to improving the sustainability of Australian agriculture and communicating this to the wider community.

Topics ranging from who pays or profits - the consumer, farmer, or the bank; how do family farms prepare for their bank, insurer or supply chain partner measuring emissions, and who bears the costs of ESG measurement, will be embraced by industry experts, and explored during roundtable workshops.

Registrations are available at the special discounted early bird rate until April 24 at www.farminstitute.org.au

Leading livestock genetics specialist, Andrew Byrne, has joined agricultural genetics company, Neogen Australasia, as senior genomics technical product specialist, adding to its local advisory team supporting the technologies.

Originally from a livestock and and cropping enterprise in southern NSW, his new duties include evaluating new technologies as part of Neogen's commitment to bringing cutting-edge tools from around the world for use by Australian producers.

Mr Byrne has moved from his previous role as genetic evaluation manager at Angus Australia, joining a genomics team spread across Australia and New Zealand, providing support to beef, dairy, sheep, companion animal and plant breeders.

Neogen, based in Ipswich in Queensland, is Australia's largest and leading agricultural genomics company, providing DNA sample processing and analysis, and food safety and animal safety products and services, from its Bundamba site.

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