South Australian Country Hour

A new national first cross ewe saleyard record of $650 set at the Naracoorte saleyards, the SA Government announces $6.5million to build a new PIRSA research facility at Struan, and aerial spraying continues as locusts numbers reportedly increases across northern SA.

The songs chosen for this year's Grain Producers SA Harvest 100 are announced, plans for a data centre on grazing land in the Adelaide Hills paused by the developer, and Australia forecast to run out of Q Fever vaccine this week.

Red meat processors losing money as record livestock prices collide with weaker meat markets, Thomas Foods International begins skin-on goat processing as export demand increases, and a win for grain and horticulture producers as SA eradicates the invasive chocolate band snail.

The CFS kept busy as dry thunderstorms spark crop fires on the Yorke Peninsula, harvesters urged to take extra care around powerlines after the state records 28 incidents for the year, and free range egg farmers rethink voluntary lock ups of their hens as the spread of bird flu slows across SA.

Waikerie in the Riverland named the 2026 South Australian Agricultural Town of The Year, hundreds of people attend a forum to raise concerns about rare earths mining in the state's south east, and Port Lincoln's first ever tuna boat, the Tacoma, celebrates its 75th birthday.

South Australian first-cross ewe lambs set a national saleyards record at Mount Pleasant selling for $462 per head and S farmers on the SA and Vic border fear they will lose livestock if the federal government recognises an isolated dingo population as critically endangered.

The first Bunge shipments of the 2026/27 harvest season year have cleared South Australian port this week destined for the Philippines, and scientists develop artificial intelligence technology capable of recognising individual lobsters, with the innovation expected to allow for new levels of traceability.

The Bureau of Meteorology latest long-range forecast suggest it is shaping up to potentially be a bit wetter for some parts of the state in the coming weeks, and locust spraying to begin in the Riverland soon despite earlier PIRSA advice that the district wasn't suitable for spraying. 

Aerial spraying underway across southern Australia to try and control locust numbers, analysis shows Australia's meat processing sector will need to attract almost 100,000 additional workers, and South Australia's John Dalla secures his 15th national blade shearing title.

The Yorke Peninsula's Stansbury oyster growing area closed following detection of a micro-algal species, Australian milk production slowly increases across Australia but continues to slip backwards in SA, and dairy farmers ask the government to cut them out of a free trade deal between Australia and the European Union.