Agribusiness buzz in brief

TWE reported a first-half net profit after tax for 2023-24 at $166.7 million, although its big name Penfolds brand enjoyed a 3pc pre-tax earnings rise to $187m.

Treasury's Americas division margins slipped from 24pc to 20.8pc because of higher costs, partly related to a poor 2020 grape harvest in California when bushfires disrupted production.

TWE expanded its Californian interests in December, buying Daou Vineyards.

Its prominent US label 19 Crimes also struggled to generate the sales expected with younger consumers, despite the brand and its marketing being closely aligned with famous American rap dancer, Snoop Dog.

Speculation continues to swirl around the fate of Incitec Pivot's foundation fertiliser business which is up for sale after 2022's plans to float the division were put on ice.

Gina Rinehart's Senex Energy joint venture with South Korea trading giant, Posco International, has been rumoured in financial media as more than a keen observer of developments at Incitec Pivot.

The Senex natural gas business is based on supplies from its Atlas and Roma North fields in Queensland

To date Indonesian state-owned chemical giant, Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (Papuk Kaltim), is believed to be the un-named player behind a drawn out bidding process with Incitec, which began about eight months ago.

However, while negotiations continue, the deal may have Foreign Investment Review Board approval complications because of the size of Incitec Pivot's market footprint as Australia's biggest fertiliser supplier.

Grain industry groups are concerned about the bulk of the eastern Australian market being at the mercy of an offshore state-owned conglomerate.

Senex's Korean part owner, Posco, is a big energy, steel making and bio-plastics producer, and has grain, palm oil and cotton trading operations around the world, including Ukraine and Myanmar.

Last year's international appointments to the Nufarm board, Federico Tripodi and Adrian Percy have been confirmed as directors at this month's annual general meeting in Melbourne.

Mr Tripodi is the founder of Blacktop Holdings, a boutique venture lab providing partnership services to food and agribusiness companies, a former chief executive officer of food ingredients business Calyxt and a former Monsanto Company health, sustainability and renewable energy crop products specialist in North and South America.

Mr Percy is executive director of the NC Plant Sciences Initiative at North Carolina State University, with 30-plus years of agricultural sector experience, including at UPL Ltd and as research head for the crop science division of Bayer.

Nufarm director since 2020, Lynne Saint, was also re-elected at the AGM.

Scientists are researching and developing new technology to build a prototype robot arm to automate the repetitive and intensive task of "dehanding" bananas in packing sheds, and hopefully achieving significant industry efficiencies.

About $2 million in Hort Innovation backing for the QUT collaboration with Future Food Systems will enable computer vision and machine learning technology to separate bananas from the stalk.

"Banana dehanding is a core process in all banana packing sheds, so any efficiencies realised through the use of robotic technology would likely have a significant impact on growers' processing costs," said Australian Banana Growers' Council chief executive officer, Leanne Erakovicn.

Bananas are one of our most loved fruits with each Australian consuming 14.2 kilograms annually and 91 per cent of households buying bananas in 2022-23.

Australia's best certified organic producers and business operators will be celebrated at the Australian Organic Industry Awards in March as part of a two-day industry conference in Melbourne.

Australian Organic Limited's chief executive officer, Niki Ford, said this year's award finalists included some of the most recognisable brands and products.

"It's clear certified organics is no longer a niche industry," she said.

Hewitt Foods, the name behind Cleaver's Organic Meat, is a finalist in three of the seven award categories, including Brand of the Year and Business of the Year, while staff members, Ash Murphy and Montanna Schollick are vying for the Young Organic Leader of the Year title.

Returning winners Kialla Pure Foods (2022 Brand of the Year) and Dr Oetker Queen Australia (2022 Business of the Year) are again major category finalists.

Others on the shortlist include retailer, Honest to Goodness, in the running for Brand of the Year and Business of the Year, with founder, Karen Ward, a finalist for the Organic Woman of the Year.

Central Queensland organic beef producers, Fred and Anna Appleton from Appleton Cattle Company, have been rewarded for their sustainable farming practices with respective nominations in the Farmer of the Year and Organic Woman of the Year categories.

A second round of grants are available to farm forestry projects under the $74 million Support Plantation Establishment Program.

Estimates from 2019 predicted a shortfall in Australian production of softwood logs of 3.4 million cubic metres by 2050, according to acting deputy secretary of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Policy Group Dr Jared Greenville.

He said the grants aimed to increase domestic timber supply, particularly construction and manufacturing timber.

"Australia's plantation forest estate has been in decline for over a decade," Dr Greenville said.

The first round of the program awarded more than $3.2 million for seven projects in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania, with more successful applications from the first round to be made shortly.

The Australian Government is offering $2000 for each hectare of new long-rotation plantation forest established.

"It can take some tree species 20 to 30 years of growing before they are suitable to be processed into structural timber, and growing times are even longer for some hardwood species,"" Dr Greenville said.

Growers and others across the horticulture sector can save with early bird registrations for the industry's big Hort Connections 2024 conference.

Attracting about 3500 delegates, Australia and New Zealand's largest horticulture event will be held from June 3 to June 5 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Hort Connections is a joint initiative between Ausveg and the International Fresh Produce Association Australia New Zealand (IFPA-ANZ).

A key highlight of the conference will be the Horticulture Awards for Excellence, which acknowledge key contributions and innovation among leading growers and industry members.

Delegates have until March 29 to make the most of early bird discount registration.