Commodity Conversations

Will ag commodities weather the storm? – 8th July 2022

With headlines dominated by news of economic downturns nearly everywhere you look, due to a perfect storm of rising interest rates, ongoing logistic issues, covid resurgences & general political instability, not to mention Russia’s war on Ukraine -  this week we bring you part 2 of David Cornish, director of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham & Rob Herrmann from Mecardo, where the two discuss lamb, goat, grain, wool & diary’s outlook in the face of the seemingly endless bad economic news cycle, with some promising signals for producers who are able to fill the gaps in international demand for Aussie products and weather the storm/s. 

More mouths, more money & Australia in prime position – 1st July 2022

Covid-19, the Russian war on Ukraine, logistics issues & and growing global population are all combining to create a perfect storm, mostly driving up commodity prices. David Cornish director of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham interviews Rob Herrmann on the big factors or trends affecting agricultural commodities in the world right now, as well as the underlying demand driving commodity markets.

This episode is split over two weeks, with the first episode the two discuss more of the big picture topics, followed on by next week where the two get down into the nitty gritty of the key commodity markets relevant to Australian farmers.

Rising weights & falling grain, market wrap with Mecardo – 24th June 2022

Plenty happening in Ag markets again this week. Oliva Agar & Robert Herrmann discuss rising cattle weights, new crop production forecasts, wools market share and sheepmeat exports. Head to the Mecardo website for all of this weeks analysis.

Maximising sheep & lamb health - 17th June 2022

Dr Paula Gonzalez-Rivas is the Technical Services Manager for Nutrition at Virbac and on today’s episode she discusses some of the latest products developed by Virbac in relation to sheep health and the potential benefits they can bring to Australian sheep farmers.  

About Virbac:

Virbac (Australia) Pty Ltd is a specialist animal health company with its core business in sheep and cattle products, veterinary pharmaceuticals and vaccines, a wide range of petcare products for dogs and cats, plus a broad range of products for horses.

Virbac has operated in Australia for over 30 years. With a team of over 200 personnel Virbac is one of the top 3 animal health companies in Australia.

Virbac takes pride in its ability to develop and manufacture products in Australia, for Australia. The company has 4 sites in NSW with 3 of these dedicated to manufacturing.

Virbac strives to develop and maintain close relationships with its customers. This is delivered by a team of over 60 personnel in sales, marketing and customer service.

Source: https://au.virbac.com/

Research cuts to agriculture when we should be investing more than ever - 11th June 2022

Charlie de Fegely, Dobie, south of Ararat, along with his family, run 9,000 composite ewes, turning off lambs in November. In 2019 he was awarded the biennial AW Howard medal for excellence in pasture research. It is believed to be the first time a farmer has been awarded the prestigious pasture improvement medal. Charlie has been a long term advocate of  science based research and is well positioned to comment on the impact Ag department budget cutbacks will have on the agricultural industry. 

 

The sustainability story - 3rd June 2022

The sustainability of wool as a fibre and sheep as a production system in Australia is well understood by those in the industry, but we can’t expect that end customers see it the same way. Ed Storey is president of Wool Producers Australia and joins us to talk to the trust in Australian wool, the sheep sustainability framework and why we need to give customers confidence in its provenance and our production.

FMD & LSD - has the risk increased? 27th May 2022

Australia's sheep & cattle meat is highly sought after around the world, partly because of the strict biosecurity standards and clean green reputation of our livestock industry. We’re not immune to unwanted diseases entering our country however and the potential devastation they can cause. This week we turn the tables and Meridian Agriculture’s Mike Stephens is interviewing Rob Herrmann. Mike is the founder, board director and a senior business consultant for Meridian Agriculture.

Currency, commodity corrections & crossbreds - 23th May 2022

Liv’s back on deck this week with Rob to catch up on all the latest moves in ag markets. This week they discuss the impact of the falling aussie dollar on commodities, India’s recent ban on wheat exports as well as some good news for crossbred wool growers.

India free trade agreement and more – 15th May 2022

This week on Mecardo, Michael Whitehead, head of agri-insights ANZ, joins us to discuss a whole range of commodities, from cattle, sheep and lamb, diary, wine and even berries. As usual Michael shares some astute insights about the current state of ag markets here in Australia and globally. Michael also touches on the recent free trade agreement between India and Australia and the opportunities it presents for Aussie producers.

Goat market kicking goals – 7th May 2022

Although Australian only produce around 1% of total goat meat in the world – demand for Aussie goat meat locally and internationally, has been steadily growing since around 2013 - pushing the price of goat meat on par with it's 'bigger cousin', lamb. This week on commodity conversations Gus Foot, Livestock account manager for Nutrien, based in Charlesville QLD, joins us to share his insights into this increasingly popular market.