Queensland Country Hour ABC Podcasts
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- Business
Explore what it takes to put food on plates around the world, with our team of specialist reporters covering the big issues of rural life.
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Vergemont Station set to become Queensland's newest National Park.
The state government has bought the outback station nestled between Longreach and the Diamantina Lakes, planning to create a corridor of national parks in some of the most unique country in Queensland.
It's the next chapter for a landscape known for its opal bearing-ranges, indigenous watering holes and as a cattle and sheep grazing operation.
It comes as the federal government outlined the next stage of it's plan for a tough new Environmental Protection Agency to police conservation efforts. -
Forest bathing, crunchy soil, and using nature to prevent dementia.
You don't have to live in the bush to benefit from a little less screen time, and a little more green time.
Farmers have long benefited from keeping pastures green and landscapes vibrant, but being a custodian of nature has its challenges, especially when it comes to the devastation caused by floods, fires and droughts.
As they work to improve the resilience of their land, new research suggests they may also be improving their brain health and mental health, and all it takes spending time in nature. -
Ancient bunya pines are dying, and bushwalkers could be part of the problem.
They've survived since the Jurassic period, at least 145 million years, but now Bunya Pines are under attack, and national park lovers could be contributing to their demise.
Bushwalking, mountain biking, four-wheel-driving, timber harvesting and feral pig incursions can all spread the problem, but there's a simple way to prevent it if you read the signs. -
Is the PMs plan for the future of clean energy to be 'made in Australia' possible?
For decades manufacturing has been leaving Australian shores in favour of cheaper Asian industrial powerhouses like India and China, but now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says its time to bring it back.
But can Australia really compete with massive economies like the US, which is also making a strong bid to provide the technology that will underpin a clean energy future?
If it can, indigenous Australians say they should be involved from the start, and what lessons can be learned from the innovation already happening in rural Australia? -
Changing backpacker visas could interrupt Australia's food supply. Here's how.
It's become a right of passage for young people from about 40 countries around the world - go backpacking in Australia and while you're there pick up a jobs in a regional area to make money and extend your stay.
More than a tourist program, the Working Holiday Maker visa has become a key source of workers in agriculture, which is why some farmers are nervous about potential changes that could see fewer people take up the challenge of a farm job. -
You may not have heard of this organisation but they're crucial to getting steak to your table
A new era for Meat and Livestock Australia, as the new managing director Michael Crowley takes the reigns.