Join Rob Herrmann and Michael Whitehead, Head of Agribusiness Insights ANZ to discuss, off the back of ANZ's recently released report Greener Pastures Two, the opportunities we've seized over the decade and an outlook into 2030. We've broken this topic into two episodes. In this episode, we take a look back at how Australian agriculture has exceeded the forecast in terms of investment, product, and export as well as the lessons for success.
Dec 09, 2022•18 min•Ep. 213
Nutrien Ag Solutions Regional Livestock Lead Adam Mountjoy and Livestock Development Manager Ron Rutledge join Olivia Agar and Rob Herrmann to give an update on the current situation in the livestock market, discuss what's driving prices down, and talk through some of the opportunities in the market.
Dec 06, 2022•24 min•Ep. 212
Farming regions have been challenged with relentless events outside of their control in the last years such as drought, bushfires, and floods. In this week's episode, Robert Herrmann catches up with Kris Nelson, General Manager of Insurance for Nutrien Ag Solutions to talk about what options there are for growers wanting to mitigate their risk, as well as how parametric weather insurance works.
Nov 25, 2022•14 min•Ep. 211
On this episode, we check in with Andrew Hosken from Hosken Stock and Land, to hear how the season is impacting the supply of cattle, what he expects for this season's weaner sales in terms of supply and demand, and what insight we can take from the feeder cattle market.
Nov 18, 2022•16 min•Ep. 210
It's that time of year when the lamb markets start to pick up the pace. Spring lamb supply is up and paired with constant wet weather, flooding, and public holidays the last few weeks have been enormous. In this episode, Robert Herrmann chats with Ron Rutledge about where we are today regarding the flow of lambs to market, what the road map is, and where opportunities can be found.
Nov 11, 2022•14 min•Ep. 209
Off the back of our recent quarterly report, this week in Commodity Conversations, Olivia Agar and Robert Herrmann catch up to discuss the key trends and factors impacting our core commodity markets over the recent quarter. Read the report here https://mecardo.com.au/reports
Nov 04, 2022•22 min•Ep. 208
Stewart is the Tasmanian state wool manager, with Nutrien Ag solutions, he’s worked nearly all over Australia, with 30 years’ experience as a wool classer, auctioneer and buyer. This week Stewart chats with Rob Herrmann about all things wool – from current price movements, export demand signals, shearing backlogs, Stewarts outlook for 2023 and more.
Oct 28, 2022•14 min•Ep. 207
While swap contracts have been a key part of grain trading in Australia for a long time there’s been no such option for cattle traders – until now. Tim Jude, livestock and commodities broker for Stonex joins us this week to discuss the mechanics behind the new swap contracts, the wide range of businesses which can potentially benefit from it and how it’s being received in the industry so far.
Oct 21, 2022•15 min•Ep. 206
It’s a mixed bag of old and new season lambs hitting the yards this week and to help us navigate through the current sheep and lamb supply outlook we have Adam Mountjoy, Southeast regional wool & livestock lead at Nutrien Ag Solutions with us. Adam’s insights from his travels around regional saleyards in south-east help make sense of the lamb supply story, processors managing the flow and opportunities in the market.
Oct 14, 2022•14 min•Ep. 205
Volatility in agricultural markets continues to be the name of the game this year as commodities continue their roller coaster ride up and down. In this week’s episode Rob and Liv from Mecardo discuss the macro-economic factors weighing some markets down and what producers can do in the face of market volatility. They also discuss the current price difference between the sheep and cattle markets of late, and what we can expect going forward.
Oct 07, 2022•16 min•Ep. 204
This week we called in to check on Rob Herrmann who is currently travelling in Spain & Portugal. Although he’s on vacation, Rob’s been keeping a keen eye on the agricultural landscape in those countries and shares some of his observations with us around the similarities and differences with Australian agriculture. Grab your favourite tempranillo, some pan and enjoy this week’s chat with Rob, live from Spain.
Sep 30, 2022•18 min•Ep. 203
Saleyards are the hive of activity for many regional areas. For hundreds of years, they have been an important connection and community interaction point for people living in rural areas. Heather Ellis from BlueWren connections, has produced a report on the social value of the saleyards, an initiative of The Australian Livestock Markets Association, highlighting some crucial ways that saleyards support individual and community well being & health. Heather’s stories of the personal aspects of...
Sep 21, 2022•26 min•Ep. 202
The FMD & LSD threat is still on our doorstep despite not dominating headlines as it was recently. This week we bring you an ‘on the grounds’ report from Dr Ross Ainsworth about the outbreaks in Indonesia, the local response to the situation and likelihood of either of the diseases spreading to Australian livestock. Dr Ainsworth has 40 years plus working as a vet with large animals, mainly in the live export business in Northern Australia. Dr Ainsworth gives a concise summary of the Indonesi...
Sep 16, 2022•23 min•Ep. 201
The grains & oilseed markets have been on a roller-coaster ride this year with prices for many crops reaching all-time highs earlier in the year before recently settling back down to pre-Russian invasion of Ukraine levels. Nick Booth from Next Level Grains Marketing joins us on episode 200 to talk us through the reasons behind the volatility this year and what we can expect going forward. As always Nick explains the key international market drivers for the grains & oilseeds complex in a ...
Sep 04, 2022•19 min•Ep. 200
Good weaning practices provide the foundation for an animals genetic potential to be fully reached. Rob Bell from ProAgni, joins us this week to discuss the keys to a successful weaning program with some interesting scientific insights and good practical advice on the transition period from milk to grass for weaners and calves.
Aug 27, 2022•19 min•Ep. 199
AuctionsPlus have recently released its’ second edition of “The Gavel”, and this week on the podcast we have their chief economist Tim McRae on to share the key insights, stories and challenges facing Australian livestock producers from their producer survey.
Aug 19, 2022•19 min•Ep. 198
Restocking and breeding up has been a driving feature of the Australian cattle market since the breaking of the drought. While the market has come off the boil slightly, there are always opportunities to be found whether it's in genetics, branding or trading. This week we're talking with Andrew Hosken from Hosken Stock and Land to see how the season is progressing, what markets are performing well and some of the opportunities for growth.
Aug 12, 2022•18 min•Ep. 197
There are plenty of challenges around in sheep and cattle markets but the underlying fundamentals for red meat demand remain strong. Ron Rutledge, Livestock Development Manager at Nutrien Ag Solutions, joins us today to share his insight into why we are seeing a rollercoaster ride on the sheep & lamb markets, what the outlook is for the spring flush, demand for meat and cattle market dynamics.
Aug 05, 2022•20 min•Ep. 196
Data-driven insights and efficiencies for livestock marketing is speaking our kind of language, and Joel Rockes, Founder and Managing Director of Agrinous, has this at the core of his vision in digitising the livestock sector. Joel joins us to share how they are making this a reality, and some of the challenges & opportunities along the way.
Jul 31, 2022•21 min•Ep. 195
There’s a lot of pieces to the sheep & lamb supply puzzle at the moment with more plenty of old season lambs still trickling through as we approach the traditional influx of new season lambs in spring. To help us understand what’s happening on the ground and what might be around the corner, we’ve got Adam Mountjoy, Regional Livestock lead for Nutrien, back on the podcast to share his insights around space for new season lambs, and what that could mean for price going forward. You can also re...
Jul 21, 2022•17 min•Ep. 194
On this episode of commodity conversations, Olivia & Rob bring you the key stories & insights from Mecardo’s latest Quarterly Market Insights report for Q2 2022, covering the trends and movements in commodity markets as well as the outlook. Key topics: Quality issues and an extended season put pressure on ovine markets Bullish fundamentals for grain & oilseed remain Cattle market falls from its peak Weaker AUD supporting demand for wool For a copy of the full report click here: Quart...
Jul 20, 2022•14 min•Ep. 193
Demand for non-mulesed merino wool shows no sign of abating and as the dominant producer of merino wool, increased supply will have to come from Australia eventually. This week we have Sally Martin from Sheep Metrix talking to Rob Herrmann about her & her teams approach to farm management including producers on the non-mulesed path. Sally has 30+ years of experience working in the sheep industry and knows well the complexities involved in managing a farm business. Her method of assisting far...
Jul 16, 2022•21 min•Ep. 192
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 c...
Jul 08, 2022•34 min•Ep. 191
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...
Jul 01, 2022•32 min•Ep. 190
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.
Jun 24, 2022•15 min•Ep. 189
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 br...
Jun 17, 2022•15 min•Ep. 188
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....
Jun 10, 2022•20 min•Ep. 187
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.
Jun 03, 2022•23 min•Ep. 186
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.
May 27, 2022•28 min•Ep. 185
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.
May 23, 2022•19 min•Ep. 184
