Events

Rural Press Club Lunch: Wednesday September 10 at 12.30pm - Tattersalls Club
Springborg rounds up the mob  The tide has turned for conservative forces in Queensland as they recognise that unity is the best way to claw back seats at a state, and potentially national, level. Lawrence Springborg has spent years pointing out the obvious – disunity is death – and made it to base one but a lot more will need to change before the Liberal National team gets back to home base and ministerial leather.  Book Now

Rural Press Club AGM: Thursday September 11, 5.30pm, United Service Club
The RPC 2007-2008 Annual Report  will be available here soon . View proxy form (pdf)

Queensland rural journalism award
The Rural Press Club is once again sponsoring a category for Excellence in Rural Journalism in the 2008 Queensland Media Awards. The awards recognise the best work of print and electronic media journalists across the State over the past year. Entries closed on July 25 and the winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Brisbane on September 13. For more details and a copy of the entry form visit Queensland Media Awards

News

Australian farmers best at land care management
13 August 2008
Australian farmers manage the land better than any other country according to Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke. Speaking to members of Queensland’s Rural Press Club on the opening day of the Brisbane Royal Show, Minister Burke said that private sector farming had the best land care management in the country.  More.

Heffernan chews the fat
28 July 2008
Australia’s two major conservative political parties need to amalgamate in order to better bridge the gap between rural and urban Australia. That was the message from New South Wales Senator Bill Heffernan the day before the historic amalgamation vote between the Queensland Liberal and National parties. “City people have to understand country issues just as country people have to understand city issues and the best way to achieve that is through one party,” Senator Heffernan said. Speaking to members of the Queensland Rural Press Club, Senator Heffernan challenged the idea that the two parties needed to represent different constituencies. More.

Agriculture must adapt to climate change
Adapting to climate change will involve everything from changes in crop varieties, through to improved seasonal forecasting and up to revised national policies and programs, according to a national scientific expert. CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship director Dr Andrew Ash said Australia’s response requires mitigation of impact through reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation to the inevitable climate change that will occur.
Dr Ash told the Rural Press Club June lunch that climate change was a ‘real and serious’ problem for Australian agriculture but that it could adapt, and the key to this is for entire industries to adapt rather than just the individual farm. The Brisbane function was part of the first national event series coordinated by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists. Read Mark Gottlieb’s full report.
A copy of the CSIRO document Adapting Farming to Climate Change is available on the CSIRO site

International judging panel awards -top honour to rural editor
Good Fruit and Vegetables magazine editor Brad Cooper has been selected by an international panel of judges to receive the 2008 Australian Star Prize for Rural Journalism. The Brisbane-based journalist will now represent Australia in the world’s most prestigious professional competition for rural journalists – the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Star Prize for Agricultural Journalism. More

$10,000 award for budding rural journalists
A new national award has been launched to encourage quality coverage of rural and regional affairs by Australian journalists. Newspaper publisher J. B. Fairfax has made a private donation to establish the award through the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Foundation. It is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students to offset the cost of studies towards a career in rural journalism. The inaugural award closes on October 15 and the winner will be announced in February 2009. An application form can be downloaded from www.rasf.org.au 

Bridging the divide

Australia’s agricultural industry needs to educate urban Australians about farming or risk its future, according to a nationally recognised farmer. Deb Bain, the 2007 Australian Rural Woman of the Year and founder of Farm Day, said that the value of farming to Australia needs to be more widely taught and understood. More

Our 2008/2009 corporate members are: AgForce, Anderssen Lawyers, ANZ Rural and Regional Banking, Australian Quarantine & Inspection Service, Avocados Australia, BANKWEST, BCI Duells Lawyers, Bentleys , CANEGROWERS, Commonwealth Bank Agribusiness, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Department of Natural Resources and Water, DPI&F, Growcom, MacDonnells Law, McCullough Robertson, McGrathNicol, Meat & Livestock Australia, Milburn Media, nab, NAB Agribusiness, Queensland Farmers' Federation, Rabobank, Rimfire Resources Pty Ltd, Suncorp Agribusiness, Thynne & Macartney, Williams & Partners .