September 3, 2026 • 7 mins
Australian correspondent Chris Russell joins the show to compare lamb market trends on both sides of the Tasman, discuss a landmark Murray-Darling Basin court ruling and its implications for irrigators, and examine the challenges facing farmers following restrictions on paraquat use. He also shares insights into the latest developments in Australian agriculture and rounds out the conversation with a look at rugby ahead of the next round of international tests.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we head across the old Tasman now here on
the country to catch up with our Aussie correspondent, which
is always great to do. Chris Russell, how are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I am awesome. How are you going?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Oh, look, the word awesome, that really encapsulates a good vibe. Now,
talking of good vibes, and I'm good, thank you, Chris,
is the price our farmers are getting for lamb, and
you've been getting some good ones, but it's pretty, you know,
not much between the two sides of the Tasman now
with the old lamb prices.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, so, I mean, what's happening really is it's interesting, really,
because I'm not quite sure I understand why it is.
But if you look at our lamb prices, they're actually
receding a little bit. New Zealand ones are going up.
So we're getting closer and closer. So currently in Australian cents,
we look at about 1173 cents a kilo, whereas New
(00:51):
Zealand has grown up to 960 cents. And of course,
both of us well below, you know, if you look
at the European figures, they're running around about 1420 cents
in the US, 1750. So they're the ones who are
grizzling about us putting lamb into their markets. But of course,
Australia and New Zealand created the US market. So it's
(01:14):
ridiculous that the farmers now cry poor to Australia. To Trump,
they wouldn't have any market at all. When I lived
in America, I never saw any lamb on the shelves
at all. We only had a very big. But there
is a change happening, and I'm sure that we're going
to see that. We're looking at our lamb prices eased
around about 3.5% for the month, whereas your prices have
(01:37):
actually gone in the opposite direction. From $ 0. 920 in July
up to $ 0. 960 in August, which is up about 4.3%.
It's interesting to see how that's happening.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it is indeed. I mean, here in New Zealand,
we've got one of our leaders in terms of having
a strong voice in the industry. Ag sector, Mark Warren
says we've got to chase the $ 1, 500 lamb. I see
we had a couple of $ 500 pens. I think mine
had been the case last week. But yeah, interesting old times. Okay,
(02:10):
this landmark ruling, where the court has ruled there is
no obligation on the Murray-Darling Water Authority to protect profits
for irrigation farmers. I mean, this is huge. And talk
about a swathe of countryside.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yes, well, I mean, I would say that the New
South Wales Supreme Court, and particularly this judge is not
very popular amongst the farmers at the moment, but there
were 28,000 irrigators who took the MDBA, which is called
Murray-Darling Basin Authority, to court. Now, the Murray-Darling Basin basically
stretches from southern Queensland all the way down through western
(02:50):
New South Wales, through Victoria and to South Australia. And
for all of the water, the irrigation water is then shared. Now,
number one priority is the environment. Number two priority is
towns and so on. Then there's stock water. Then there's
high security water for trees that are in all the time.
And then final allocation goes for general crops that you
(03:12):
can grow every year, like cotton and rice and so on.
And anyway, they were claiming in their action that In fact,
the authority really mucked up its management, its whole river operations.
They caused lower water allocations, loss of profits, and higher
temporary water prices, such that some farmers were not able
(03:34):
to actually meet their supply contracts. But the judge in
this case, a bloke called Judge Faulkner, found that they
had no duty of care to avoid pure economic loose
loss to one group of people over another. And then
they ordered the plaintiffs, the 28,000 farmers, to pay all
the costs of the MDBA. So I think people are saying, well,
(03:55):
that's an unusual ruling. We always talk about the three
Ps of products, profitable productivity and then principles and provenance.
And really, if we don't encourage profitable production in Australian agriculture,
we're in all sorts of trouble in terms of having
a viable agricultural industry, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
28,000 plaintiffs, 28,000 farmers. That says it all, doesn't it, Chris? Yeah, incredible. Roddy,
alternatives to supplement Paraquat in desperate times because the limits
on the use of this is a reality.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, well, I think I reported, Jamie, a few weeks
ago that the APVMA, the Australian... Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines
Authority which is like the ruling body for deciding what
we can and can't use and said that we continue
to be able to use Paraquat. Now some of the
(04:55):
plaintiffs in this had claimed that Paraquat was indicated as
being a cause of Parkinson's disease particularly in a full
pocket area in Victoria where they had a lot of
occurrences but the The APBMA rule that providing use according
to instructions is completely safe, but they did reduce the
maximum rates that could be used, and they also reduced
(05:17):
the amount that could be put on in total, and
you had to have special license as well. So it's
a kind of a midpoint type decision. But now they're saying, well,
the problem is that there's no sugarcoating the fact that
By dropping the allowable application rate for board-special herbicide by 80%,
it's going to be very hard to manage weeds, particularly
(05:41):
in crops like sugar. And there is nothing on the
horizon at the moment that can actually take its place.
Of course, we've got glyphosate, but glyphosate depended on paraquat
as being the backup alternative when you started seeing resistance
in the weeds to roundable glyphosate. So this is presenting
(06:03):
them with a dilemma, although they're pleased that it has
been completely barred. You know, some of the broadleaf weeds,
like what we over here call milk thistle and fleabane,
are very difficult to control without the full range of
ammunition in the armoury to be able to do that.
And so this is going to be a good task,
I think, for the researchers and for the companies to
(06:24):
come up with something that's going to be able to
replace that, which is still going to be inherently safe
to use.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, gee, the challenges, eh, on a daily basis for
the ag sector, for the farming world, they keep popping up,
don't they, Chris? Hey, let's talk a little bit of footy.
The All Blacks should expect them to, you know, you
Aussies will be keeping an eye on us. We'll go
up against the box and go 2-1 up, I would think.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, yeah, probably. We beat Argentina just, which was good.
So this kid's still got an unbeaten record. So he's
sitting pretty at the moment. And it wasn't a bad game.
Always interesting. The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand in
those games is amazing. So it'll be fascinating to see
(07:09):
when we get to the Blizzlo Cup game, just exactly
how that runs, Homish.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Always looking forward to that. Aussie correspondent Chris Russell, as always,
thank you very much for joining us here on The Country.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
No worries, Homish.
Well, we head across the old Tasman now here on
the country to catch up with our Aussie correspondent, which
is always great to do. Chris Russell, how are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I am awesome. How are you going?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Oh, look, the word awesome, that really encapsulates a good vibe. Now,
talking of good vibes, and I'm good, thank you, Chris,
is the price our farmers are getting for lamb, and
you've been getting some good ones, but it's pretty, you know,
not much between the two sides of the Tasman now
with the old lamb prices.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, so, I mean, what's happening really is it's interesting, really,
because I'm not quite sure I understand why it is.
But if you look at our lamb prices, they're actually
receding a little bit. New Zealand ones are going up.
So we're getting closer and closer. So currently in Australian cents,
we look at about 1173 cents a kilo, whereas New
(00:51):
Zealand has grown up to 960 cents. And of course,
both of us well below, you know, if you look
at the European figures, they're running around about 1420 cents
in the US, 1750. So they're the ones who are
grizzling about us putting lamb into their markets. But of course,
Australia and New Zealand created the US market. So it's
(01:14):
ridiculous that the farmers now cry poor to Australia. To Trump,
they wouldn't have any market at all. When I lived
in America, I never saw any lamb on the shelves
at all. We only had a very big. But there
is a change happening, and I'm sure that we're going
to see that. We're looking at our lamb prices eased
around about 3.5% for the month, whereas your prices have
(01:37):
actually gone in the opposite direction. From $ 0. 920 in July
up to $ 0. 960 in August, which is up about 4.3%.
It's interesting to see how that's happening.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it is indeed. I mean, here in New Zealand,
we've got one of our leaders in terms of having
a strong voice in the industry. Ag sector, Mark Warren
says we've got to chase the $ 1, 500 lamb. I see
we had a couple of $ 500 pens. I think mine
had been the case last week. But yeah, interesting old times. Okay,
(02:10):
this landmark ruling, where the court has ruled there is
no obligation on the Murray-Darling Water Authority to protect profits
for irrigation farmers. I mean, this is huge. And talk
about a swathe of countryside.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yes, well, I mean, I would say that the New
South Wales Supreme Court, and particularly this judge is not
very popular amongst the farmers at the moment, but there
were 28,000 irrigators who took the MDBA, which is called
Murray-Darling Basin Authority, to court. Now, the Murray-Darling Basin basically
stretches from southern Queensland all the way down through western
(02:50):
New South Wales, through Victoria and to South Australia. And
for all of the water, the irrigation water is then shared. Now,
number one priority is the environment. Number two priority is
towns and so on. Then there's stock water. Then there's
high security water for trees that are in all the time.
And then final allocation goes for general crops that you
(03:12):
can grow every year, like cotton and rice and so on.
And anyway, they were claiming in their action that In fact,
the authority really mucked up its management, its whole river operations.
They caused lower water allocations, loss of profits, and higher
temporary water prices, such that some farmers were not able
(03:34):
to actually meet their supply contracts. But the judge in
this case, a bloke called Judge Faulkner, found that they
had no duty of care to avoid pure economic loose
loss to one group of people over another. And then
they ordered the plaintiffs, the 28,000 farmers, to pay all
the costs of the MDBA. So I think people are saying, well,
(03:55):
that's an unusual ruling. We always talk about the three
Ps of products, profitable productivity and then principles and provenance.
And really, if we don't encourage profitable production in Australian agriculture,
we're in all sorts of trouble in terms of having
a viable agricultural industry, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
28,000 plaintiffs, 28,000 farmers. That says it all, doesn't it, Chris? Yeah, incredible. Roddy,
alternatives to supplement Paraquat in desperate times because the limits
on the use of this is a reality.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yes, well, I think I reported, Jamie, a few weeks
ago that the APVMA, the Australian... Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines
Authority which is like the ruling body for deciding what
we can and can't use and said that we continue
to be able to use Paraquat. Now some of the
(04:55):
plaintiffs in this had claimed that Paraquat was indicated as
being a cause of Parkinson's disease particularly in a full
pocket area in Victoria where they had a lot of
occurrences but the The APBMA rule that providing use according
to instructions is completely safe, but they did reduce the
maximum rates that could be used, and they also reduced
(05:17):
the amount that could be put on in total, and
you had to have special license as well. So it's
a kind of a midpoint type decision. But now they're saying, well,
the problem is that there's no sugarcoating the fact that
By dropping the allowable application rate for board-special herbicide by 80%,
it's going to be very hard to manage weeds, particularly
(05:41):
in crops like sugar. And there is nothing on the
horizon at the moment that can actually take its place.
Of course, we've got glyphosate, but glyphosate depended on paraquat
as being the backup alternative when you started seeing resistance
in the weeds to roundable glyphosate. So this is presenting
(06:03):
them with a dilemma, although they're pleased that it has
been completely barred. You know, some of the broadleaf weeds,
like what we over here call milk thistle and fleabane,
are very difficult to control without the full range of
ammunition in the armoury to be able to do that.
And so this is going to be a good task,
I think, for the researchers and for the companies to
(06:24):
come up with something that's going to be able to
replace that, which is still going to be inherently safe
to use.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, gee, the challenges, eh, on a daily basis for
the ag sector, for the farming world, they keep popping up,
don't they, Chris? Hey, let's talk a little bit of footy.
The All Blacks should expect them to, you know, you
Aussies will be keeping an eye on us. We'll go
up against the box and go 2-1 up, I would think.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, yeah, probably. We beat Argentina just, which was good.
So this kid's still got an unbeaten record. So he's
sitting pretty at the moment. And it wasn't a bad game.
Always interesting. The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand in
those games is amazing. So it'll be fascinating to see
(07:09):
when we get to the Blizzlo Cup game, just exactly
how that runs, Homish.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Always looking forward to that. Aussie correspondent Chris Russell, as always,
thank you very much for joining us here on The Country.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
No worries, Homish.
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