This week's roundup: Paddock-to-plate revival, Australia agribusiness May 2026, Autonomous farm machinery, Two premium Queensland cattle feedlots, and more updates. Plus, fresh listings, auction dates, and more from across Australian ag. Let's get into it →

In short:

Global attention on the vulnerability of food supply chains has inspired a paddock-to-plate revival for farmers and shoppers. Selling and buying closer to where food is produced reduces the transport costs and food miles.

Not all growers can sell direct to local markets as their production scale still requires them to send fruit and vegetables to central markets.

Global attention on the vulnerability of food supply chains has inspired a paddock-to-plate revival, but not all farmers and shoppers can benefit.  

As the Iran War escalated, retailer Angela Nason said growers and consumers flooded her Far North Queensland produce store with inquiries. 

"I have put on two more day crew to handle that amount of people coming in, [and] we've opened up on a Saturday now too," she said.

As the cost of each kilometre food travels explodes, supermarkets are also facing pressure to absorb the price rises associated with the disruption. 

But the model only works if the paddocks are close to the plates, taking shortening the supply chain off the table for many. 

Trucking loop-de-loop

Ms Nason's store is on the Atherton Tablelands at Mareeba, west of Cairns. 

The region is a horticultural powerhouse, producing citrus, avocados, bananas, mangoes and other crops valued at almost $748 million. 

But before any of that produce is available in a local supermarket, it first has to travel thousands of kilometres to wholesale markets in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, only to be trucked back to retailers in the north. 

Ms Nason said farmers struggling with rising freight costs were looking for ways to sell closer to home.

"My phone rings continuously off the hook; we have loads of farmers ringing us for help, pretty much daily," Ms Nason said.

At Jonsson's Farmers Market in Cairns, operations manager Joe Cincota has also noticed more foot traffic.

"We've undergone a bit of a transformation in the store and re-examined our pricing, trying to do a better job with pricing and give customers a better deal," he said.

But he said there were limits to how much could be supplied locally, relying on central markets to fill in the gaps.

"We can't get everything local ... but we are the luckiest state in terms of growing a great proportion, especially the fruits that we use," he said.

"The freshness comes from literally buying direct from the grower where we can."

Growers on board

About 1,300 kilometres away at Rosedale, north of Bundaberg, Luke Tresize and De'Arne Chapman hope to expand their regenerative farming business, Golden Hill Farm.

They farm cattle, sheep, poultry and pigs.

Ms Chapman said she had noticed increased demand for paddock-to-plate options as more consumers explored what was in their food.

"I think because of social media, people want to know where their food is coming from," she said. "They want that traceability, they want lower kilometres being travelled to get their food."

The couple's meat is processed at Biggenden before it is packaged and then sold at local markets. They have purchased an on-farm butcher room in a bid to streamline their business and cut costs.

They said it should be operational by September.

"The plan is to be able to utilise other farms in the region that are farming similar to us, which will give the local community access to more local beef, pork and lamb," Mr Tresize said.

"We're living in an amazing food-growing region here, so why are we chasing food from Tasmania or Victoria when it can all be grown here?"

Local markets not for all

Ebony Faichney is a horticultural farming consultant with Farmour, based in Mareeba.

She said farmers could gain benefits by diversifying their markets, but it was harder for bigger growers to sell their produce locally.

"A lot of our really small farms, their local supply chain works perfectly, and they can sell the majority of their crop to local fruit shops," she said.

"But when you start to scale up, [like] some of our larger players here on the Tablelands and Mareeba Dimbulah area, unfortunately, the sheer volume of fruit that they're producing just can't be absorbed by our local market."

Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers chief executive Scott Kompo-Harms said the paddock-to-plate model was not always an option for those shopping at farmers' markets in more urban areas, like Brisbane, where produce tended to come from central markets, meaning there was still a transport element.

However, he said local markets provided a great opportunity to educate consumers, especially in a time of global uncertainty.

"I still think that is a fundamental challenge for our industry in ensuring that the vast majority of their consumers actually understand what it takes to get [produce] on the shelf," Mr Kompo-Harms said.

Here are the main highlights for some of Australia’s key commodities and economic influences this month. The full report covers the developments to watch in the upcoming weeks.

Here are the main highlights for some of Australia's key commodities and economic influences for this month. The full report provides an overview of the developments to watch in the upcoming weeks.

AUTONOMOUS machinery use is increasing in agriculture, but cost and connectivity issues are limiting uptake and risking the future abilities of the Australian grains industry to keep pace globally.

These are findings from the second year of research led by Grain Producers Australia (GPA), the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia (TMA) and the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA), tracking how autonomous technologies are being used and adopted on-farm over time.

The 2026 Autonomous Farm Machinery Use in Australia snapshot, informed by a survey of grain producers around the country, shows more farm businesses are engaging with autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, but barriers around affordability, return on investment and regional connectivity continue to shape adoption decisions.

GPA research development and extension spokesperson Andrew Weidemann said the results reflect a shift from awareness to application, with producers now working through how the technology fits within their own operations.

“Producers can see where this technology delivers value, but the speed of adoption is being shaped by how practical it is to implement,” Mr Weidemann said.

“Without the right support around connectivity and clear pathways for adoption, there’s a risk that uptake slows despite strong interest.”

Mr Weidemann said regional connectivity is emerging as a key limiting factor.

“These systems rely on reliable connectivity to operate effectively, and that’s not consistent across all production regions.

“If we want to see these technologies adopted more broadly, investment in regional digital infrastructure has to keep pace.”

The report sits within a broader coordinated effort across the industry to support the safe and effective adoption of autonomous farm machinery.

It is underpinned by the Code of Practice for Agricultural Mobile Field Machinery with Autonomous Functions in Australia and is complemented by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investment Grain Automate, which is led by SPAA and focuses on building practical pathways to adoption for producers.

Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia Executive Director Gary Northover said the findings reinforce the importance of aligning technology development with on-farm conditions.

“Manufacturers are continuing to invest in autonomous systems, but adoption will depend on confidence that these systems are practical, reliable and suited to Australian broadacre environments,” Mr Northover said.

“These results are important in ensuring the technology being developed reflects how it will be used on-farm and can be implemented effectively.”

Mr Northover said the Code of Practice also plays a key role in supporting consistent adoption.

“As these technologies continue to evolve, the Code provides an industry-led framework to support safe and consistent implementation, but its value depends on how it is understood and applied in practice.”

SPAA executive officer, Angelique McAvoy, said the results highlight the need to focus on practical engagement, capability building and return on investment.

“There is strong interest from producers, but adoption will be driven by what they can see working in real conditions, a clear return on investment and upskilling in their workforce,” Ms McAvoy said.

“These findings reinforce the importance of demonstration, extension and building confidence in how these systems operate on-farm.”

The report confirms producers continue to prioritise hands-on engagement, with field days, demonstrations and trusted industry channels identified as the most effective ways to build understanding of autonomous technologies.

Mr Weidemann said ensuring producers can adopt these technologies will be critical to maintaining the competitiveness of the Australian grains industry.

“For a $26 billion grains industry looking to the future, this work is about making sure producers can adopt technology in a way that delivers real gains in efficiency, supports labour availability and strengthens long-term sustainability.

“This is not a future issue, it’s something producers are actively working through now, and the focus needs to be on making adoption achievable.”

This month has delivered one of the biggest shifts Australian farmers and business owners have faced in quite some time.

With the cash rate rising again, banks have quickly followed by increasing lending rates across commercial, asset and property finance. For many producers, repayments have jumped while operating costs continue climbing at the same time.

And it’s not just interest rates.

Fuel remains elevated, insurance costs are rising, freight is expensive, and suppliers across machinery, transport and infrastructure are all passing through higher costs. The result is that many farm businesses are now operating in an environment where everything costs more at once.

Across agriculture, the focus has clearly changed from expansion to cash flow management and efficiency.

Farmers are becoming more selective with spending, prioritising equipment that improves reliability, reduces downtime and lowers long-term operating costs. Repairs versus replacement is becoming a bigger discussion, particularly as older machinery becomes more expensive to maintain.

At the same time, refinancing activity has increased significantly. More producers are reviewing existing lending, consolidating debt, reducing repayments and unlocking equity to improve liquidity and create breathing room while conditions remain tight.

Importantly, this isn’t panic — it’s smart positioning.

The strongest operators right now are the ones taking control early, restructuring before pressure builds, and making decisions with a long-term mindset rather than reacting late.

In this environment, REV Finance continues working closely with Australian farmers and rural business owners to restructure lending, lower costs where possible, and align machinery, vehicle and equipment finance with real seasonal income cycles.

The landscape is tougher than it was 12 months ago — no doubt about it. But agriculture has always rewarded operators who stay disciplined, adaptable and proactive when conditions shift.

Details have emerged regarding the separate sales of Mort & Co’s Yarranbrook and Pinegrove feedlots, listed for sale by the beef giant in October last year.

State property records show the 882ha Pinegrove Feedlot has been acquired by a partnership between Queensland Wagyu cattle barons Peter and Jane Hughes and Elbow Valley Beef founder Chris Shaw.

The deal was finalised earlier this year for $53m, with $45.8m paid for the land and a further $7.2m for the associated water allocation of 385ML of high security groundwater and a licence to impound up to 234ML of surface water.

Located between Millmerran and Cecil Plains in southern Queensland, Pinegrove offered a feedlot of 9698 standard cattle units, with approval to expand to 21,100.

The Hughes family, via Georgina Pastoral Co and Hughes Pastoral Group, is one of Australia’s largest cattle farming families, operating a four-million-hectare pastoral empire across Queensland and the Northern Territory, running more than 180,000 head of cattle.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4cP28X6

Starts: 05/05/2026, 08:00 am
End: 07/05/2026, 08:00 pm

On the changes that stay in the too-hard pile longer than they should.

We offered a client something close to a free lunch last week. They're already on retainer with us, so we said we'd build out an automated system to handle their inbound enquiries and follow-ups (no extra charge nor heavy lift on their end). We'd done it before. The build was ours to handle.

They came back a few days later and pulled out. Too complex for the team, they said.

But the Change Wasn't the Problem

From where we were sitting, the complexity was minimal. Their team wouldn't have been touching any of the technical side. What they were weighing wasn't the actual change; it was the version of the change they'd constructed in their heads. The meetings, the learning curve, the risk of something going wrong, and the explanation they'd have to give if it did. None of that was real. But it was real enough to decide for them.

The 2-Minute Test to Know if Your Operation Is Ready for Change.

That moment reframed how we think about operational resistance entirely. The real friction in most businesses isn't the tools, the training, or the tech. It's the decision that gets made in the gap between "this could work" and "let's find out." Most upgrades die in that gap. 

So here's a simple test we now run with clients before anything else.

Worth Checking

Is there something in your operation that's been in the too-hard pile for a while? Not the genuinely complex things,  you'd know the difference. The ones where, if you're honest, you're not entirely sure what made them feel that way.

Try this: write down what you think makes it difficult. Then separate each item into real or imagined. Sometimes the answer's legitimate. Sometimes the list collapses to almost nothing.

If you're seeing this in your own setup, worth a conversation. 

📧 [email protected]

G’day REALM Readers,

Link: https://rfttejobs.news/OutbackLens

If you’ve spent time on the RFTTE.com Facebook page, you’ve probably come across Darryl Harris's photos - shots of rodeo legends and station life that are raw, no filters... no setup...

There are some blokes in the bush who don’t make a fuss about what they’ve done… but when you scratch the surface, there’s a lifetime of experience there.

Darryl is one of those.

He was born in Mareeba and raised on cattle properties across the Gulf Country, including Abingdon Downs, then through Normanton and by the time he turned 14, he was already working on Maggieville. Straight into it. Learning the ropes the only way you could back then… by doing the job.

He moved where the work was and picked up skills along the way. Stations, mines, seismic work, even rodeo riding and camp drafting. He spent time as a head stockman and quietly broke in around 300 horses along the way.

He didn't take photos while he was working on the stations. That came later, going back and capturing those places with a bit more perspective. And I reckon that’s what makes those shots different… when you’ve lived it, you see things others don’t.

He knew a few chopper pilots as well, which opened up the chance to get up in the air and capture the country from a different angle. Some of the stations he’d worked on years earlier… but this time through a lens instead of from the ground.

These days, Darryl is 71 and back living in Mareeba. He hasn’t picked up the camera much in the past few years due to being unwell, but he’s keen to get back into it.

And you get the feeling he will.

It’s a good reminder that not every story needs to be polished or planned out. Sometimes it’s just about saying yes to the next job, the next opportunity, the next chapter…and before you know it, you’ve built a life full of experiences.

And those are the photos and stories worth sharing...

VIEW DARRYL'S IMAGES OF RODEO & STATION LIFE

https://rfttejobs.com/blog/darryl-harris-outback-rodeo-ringers/

Hooroo for now,
Simon Cheatham
Founder RFTTE - The Online Campfire
0417 277 488 | [email protected]

Robbie is definitely 'that guy!' He's even got his own cartoon character.