This week's roundup: Smart fertility for forage success, Introducing Crop Input Finance, Greeneye Technology Adds, Labour Softens, Markets Shift and Farmers Stay Sharp, But Pressure Hasn’t Gone Away, Gold Coast canefarmers, and more updates. Plus, fresh listings, auction dates, and more from across Australia's ag sector. Let's get into it

A major northern Australia transport company sidelined over compliance and safety issues is back on the road after the peak heavy vehicle regulator said it had agreed to address its concerns.

Hawkins Transport operates about 70 road trains delivering cattle and groceries to remote Indigenous communities around Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) suspended the company's entire fleet this month over concerns about Trucking company halt. 

Hawkins Transport's owner, Bradley Hawkins, said the move was costing the business half a million dollars a week.

The move was to be contested in Brisbane’s Supreme Court today, but the regulator lifted the ban overnight, effective immediately.

NHVR’s executive director of statutory compliance, Paul Alsbury, said the decision was carefully considered.

“[NHVR] has lifted prohibition notices issued to Hawkins Transport following an agreement on a pathway to address identified safety and compliance concerns,” Mr Alsbury said.

“The NHVR has carefully considered both the safety risks identified, Hawkins’ ongoing work to remediate, and the importance of reliable freight services to the communities affected.

“The prohibition notices were issued in response to identified safety issues. Since that action was taken, Hawkins Transport has engaged with the NHVR and agreed to a pathway to address those concerns.”

Being one of only two operators servicing the remote top end, community members raised concerns earlier this week that the blanket action would lead to a surge in grocery prices.

The prohibition was first introduced after a series of missed inspections, which Mr Hawkins attributed to a misunderstanding of rules and a lack of staff.

It is understood the company’s entire fleet of road trains will still need to be inspected at the nearest NHVR site in Mount Isa, roughly 500km from its Normanton base to avoid further action.

New season lamb prices have hit an all-time high for the January to August period, averaging $229.14 a head across all categories on AuctionsPlus, a 29% jump on last year and more than triple the 2023 low of $62.75.

The result caps four straight years of price recovery since the 2023 trough, and it's not confined to one category. Every new season lamb category tracked by AuctionsPlus is at or near its season-to-date high on price, with Crossbred Lambs averaging $233.56, First Cross Ewe Lambs $301.82, Merino Wether Lambs $202.92 and Shedding Breed Lambs $199.13.

It's happening against a backdrop of strong supply. A total of 138,796 head have gone through the system in the January to August window, the fourth-highest tally in the 11-year data set behind 2021 (229,826), 2020 (141,618) and 2018 (141,071). That puts 2026 essentially level with 2018 and 2020, up 11.7% on 2025 (124,266) and nearly double the 2023 trough of 74,740 head.

Clearance sits mid-pack at 86.9%, down 1.5 percentage points from last year's 88.4% but well clear of 2023's 61.9%.

Crossbred Lambs made up 71% of the total yarding at 98,535 head, up 21.6% on 2025 and the third-largest Crossbred run in the series behind 2021 and 2018. Price rose 31.6% year-on-year to a record $233.56. Clearance eased slightly to 85.9% from 87.5%.

First Cross Ewe Lamb numbers fell 29% in 2025 to 5,595 head, the lowest since 2022 and the tightest supply of any major category this year. That scarcity is reflected in price, with the category clearing $300 a head for the first time at $301.82, up 29.7% year-on-year. Clearance jumped to 93.2% from 75.4%, the strongest of any major category and the best result for the category since 2020.

Several categories posted their strongest new season numbers in years. Shedding Breed Lambs reached 13,234 head, the highest since 2021, while Composite/Other Breed Lambs (2,470 head) and Merino Ewe Lambs (1,350 head) both posted their biggest runs since 2019 and 2021 respectively.

Merino Wether Lambs told a different story, falling 28% in 2025 to 14,957 head, the lowest tally since 2016. No category recorded an outright all-time high on head numbers this season.

Record prices across every category mean this is a strong season to be turning off new season lambs, regardless of breed or type. But the numbers underneath the average tell producers where the real leverage sits. First Cross Ewe Lambs show what happens when supply tightens against firm demand, with numbers down 29%, delivering both a record price and the best clearance of any major category. For agents and vendors alike, AuctionsPlus' national buyer reach is what turns a strong on-paper price into a cleared sale, particularly in categories where local competition alone wouldn't be enough to test the market properly. 

Following successful introductions in North America and Australia, Claas is making the 15.30m Convio Flex 1530 available to European customers from the 2026 model year. The new flagship flexible draper cutterbar is designed for Lexion combines and adds a wider option to the Convio and Convio Flex line-up, which has been used globally since 2020. 

Flexible cutting for cereals, rape and low-growing crops 

The fixed-knife Convio is aimed mainly at cereals and rapeseed, while the Convio Flex uses a flexible knife bar and ACTIVE FLOAT contact pressure control for crops cut close to the ground, including soya, peas and grass. In FLEX mode, the knife bar follows ground contours by up to 90mm upwards and 135mm downwards, helping to maintain an even cut and reduce header losses. 

Hydropneumatically suspended stabiliser wheels are fitted as standard to improve ground following and keep the cutterbar stable across its full width, even at higher forward speeds or on uneven land. The 1530 also uses a split, triple-suspended reel spider and a two-part knife bar, with each side driven by a planetary gearbox and moving in opposite directions for smoother running. 

Power is split between mechanical drives for the intake auger and knife bar and hydraulic drives for the side belts, centre belt, reel and rapeseed knives. Claas says overload protection is built in across the power train. Optional rapeseed equipment includes left- and right-hand conveyor augers and tool-free rapeseed knives, while rubber sealing lips and a raised rear wall help limit grain and seedlosses. 

Automatic functions reduce operator workload 

The Convio Flex 1530 carries over the range’s automatic functions, including Automatic Belt Speed, which matches belt speed to combine forward speed and crop flow. This is intended to even out intake in variable crops. Belt slip and standstill warnings also alert the operator before overloads become critical, including in dusty conditions or at night. 

From model year 2026, CEMOS Auto Header will be available for Convio and Convio Flex cutterbars when combined with a Field Scanner. The DLG silver medal-winning system automates vertical and horizontal reel positions as well as belt speed, allowing operators to focus on machine monitoring, crop flow and field conditions. 

Reel and reversing support difficult conditions 

The flip-over reel spider, introduced in 2019, is designed to improve crop flow by lifting material before it reaches the knife bar and reducing wrapping around the reel. Automatic tractive force control increases reel pull in lodged or dense crops, while automatic height control helps prevent the tines from dipping into the soil. 

For blockages, operators can reverse the centre and side belts from the CMOTION handle during work. A separate armrest switch reverses the reel, centre belt, intake auger and intake chute under load, after which the crop flow can be restarted gently to avoid further blockages. 

For the week ending 28 August 2026, finance is back at the centre of farm planning.

The latest inflation figures showed annual CPI easing to 3.5%, down from 3.8%, but the underlying picture is still uncomfortable. Trimmed meaninflation remained at 3.6%, which keeps pressure on the Reserve Bank and has lifted expectations that another cash rate increase is still possible before the end of the year.

For farmers, that means the cash rate may be steady for now, but borrowing conditions are not relaxing. Machinery finance, overdrafts, working capital andproperty-backed lending remain expensive, and any further rate move would put more pressure on repayments.

Fuel is also back in focus. July’s inflation data showed fuel costs moving sharply higher, which matters directly on farm. Diesel flows through nearly everypart of agriculture — machinery, freight, spraying, irrigation, livestock transport and grain movement. Even when commodity prices are holding up, higher fuel can quickly eat into margin.

There has been some positive news across livestock markets. Rainfall across large parts of the country helped support cattle and sheep prices this week, withcattle yardings falling and most indicators strengthening. Wool also showed improvement, with both eastern and western indicators moving higher.

On the rural policy front, debate has intensified around productive farmland being shifted toward carbon and forestry projects, particularly after renewedattention on major Tasmanian farmland transactions. That issue is becoming more important for farmers watching land values, food production and long-term regional investment.

In this environment, Pay In Time Finance is helping Australian farmers review existing lending, refinance higher-cost debt, reduce repayment pressure, unlockequity and structure machinery or equipment finance around seasonal cashflow.

The message this week is clear: inflation is easing, but not enough to relax. Farmerswho stay ahead of finance, fuel and margin pressure will be best placed for the months ahead.

The first fossil record of the Melastomataceae plant family in Australia or eastern Gondwana has been identified in specimens from central Queensland.

A paper on the fossils published this month challenges what scientists previously believed about the plant's origins. It also led to the discovery of a new genus and species.

When scientists were first handed exceptionally preserved fossils from rural central Queensland, they were stumped.

"It was an unusual discovery because when we first found it, it looked a bit like lizard skin," Queensland Museum's principal geoscience scientist, Andrew Rozefelds, said.

"I just went, 'It can't be', because when you get plants, you don't tend to get vertebrates as well.

"We were faced with a plant we've never seen before."

The plants were later identified as the first fossil record of the Melastomataceae family in Australia or eastern Gondwana, an ancient supercontinent. It also led to the discovery of a new genus and species, Capella raulingsii, which was previously unknown to science.

Melastomataceae are now found around the tropics, with several species in Australia, mostly in the tropical north and east.

Earlier this month, Dr Rozefelds and his colleagues published a paper in the International Journal of Plant Sciences, which also challenged beliefs about how the plants came to be in Australia.

"The most recent molecular data suggested that this family of plants migrated into Australia from South-East Asia," he said.

"The fossil evidence we've got would suggest this isn't the case."

Dr Rozefelds, who is also an adjunct research fellow at CQ University, said the research found the plants were already in Australia about 30 million years ago, which suggested they were of Gondwanan origins.

"These fossils show that members of the Melastomataceae were growing in Australia tens of millions of years before the continent made contact with South-East Asia," Dr Rozefelds said.

"It provides the first concrete evidence these plants were part of eastern Gondwana's ancient rainforests, and it forces us to rethink the historical biogeography of the entire family."

Gondwana began breaking up about 180 million years ago. It split into continents including Australia, South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India and Antarctica.

The University of Queensland's Anita Milroy, who was among the paper's co-authors, said the fossils were found in silcretes, an extremely hard rock, near Capella on brigalow, farming country.

"Around 30 million years ago, it would have been a rainforest … and there are some living relatives [of the plants] now in the Daintree [near Cairns]," Dr Milroy said.

Dr Milroy said she contributed to the research by using synchrotron imaging, a type of high-intensity X-ray, on the specimens.

"Now it's a technique that's used right across the board in palaeobotany," she said.

"We can actually see inside these fruits, we don't have to destroy them."

The scientists' research also describes the first whole fruit of the Melastomataceae family found anywhere in the world.

Usually, fossil fruits are flattened or incomplete, but Dr Milroy said the Capella area was "internationally significant" because the region historically had volcanoes, and eruptions helped preserve the fossils.

University of Melbourne palaeontologist Vera Korasidis, who was not involved in the study, agreed, saying further studies should be undertaken in the area.

"It's pretty rare to find soft tissue actually preserved in fossil record, and in particular in Australia," Dr Korasidis said.

"Unlike in bones or teeth that we associate with dinosaurs, which are naturally quite hard, soft tissues that we associate with plants tend to rapidly deform or decay before fossilisation occurs."

Dr Korasidis described it as an "exceptional" find.

"It's quite exciting to be able to rewrite the narrative and say that perhaps they evolved or were present in north-east Queensland, and then spread northward, as opposed to the other way around."

(RGA26016) (REALM Group Australia Pty Ltd) The Original Australia-wide Multi Vendor Auction Group

Starts: 02/09/2026, 08:00 am
Ends: 03/09/2026, 08:00 pm

Why Two Businesses Can Bill the Same Hours and Deserve Different Money

Let’s say an electrician walks onto a job. It took them twenty minutes to find the fault. And then forty more to fix it. On the other hand, someone less experienced could spend half a day on the exact same problem.

Nobody would say the first electrician should charge less for being faster at their job, right? Yet business owners do this to themselves constantly.

The team mentioned it to me recently, pricing up some new work. Something we can now put together relatively quickly was still solving a fairly expensive problem for the client. And the maths starts creeping in: well, it only took a few hours...

That's the trap. Those hours aren't really just hours. They're hours built on years of knowing what to do, what to skip, which shortcuts are safe, and how to spot the problem in the first place.

This is where we make the distinction without drifting into “charge what you're worth” territory.

Time absolutely matters. Labour costs money, and a job that takes three weeks can't be priced like one that takes an afternoon. But two four-hour jobs aren't necessarily worth the same amount.

One might be routine work that almost anyone with the right tools could do. Another might require judgment, carry significant responsibility, or solve a problem that's costing the customer far more every day it remains unresolved.

So when you're pricing work, hours should tell you something about what it costs you to deliver.

BUT they don't necessarily tell you what the work is worth to the customer.

This is where we make it timely.

Businesses are getting faster. Better software, templates, automation and newer tools are cutting hours out of work that used to take much longer. And, of course, experience compounds all of that.

That's exactly what improving a business is supposed to look like.

If every hour you save has to come straight off the invoice, there's something backwards about the equation. You've invested in becoming more capable, only to make your work cheaper because you're now better at delivering it.

That doesn't mean efficiency never benefits the customer. If something has genuinely become simple, repeatable and low-risk, your pricing should reflect that too.

The point is simply to stop asking “How many hours did this take?” as though that answers the pricing question on its own.

A better question is: What did it take to make those hours possible, and what did those hours actually solve?

If there's something in your business taking more time than it should, that's the kind of problem we like looking at. Let’s connect.
[email protected]

G’day  REALM Readers,

What’s your Royal Flying Doctor Service story?

We asked the RFTTE community and received some cracking yarns about the times the Flying Doctor came to the rescue.

One member was born aboard an RFDS aircraft, later had meningitis and then survived a death adder bite. Another was flown from Bedourie to Mount Isa and opened the midnightphone call with:

“Now don’t panic, Mum, but I’m in the Isa hospital.”

Another member recalled being flown to Adelaide with an injured hand:

“The most beautiful people in the world. The pilot even rolled me a smoke because my hand was a bit stuffed.”

Then there’s the Kimberley kid who didn’t want to leave the station and still had enough fight left to bite the Flying Doctor during take-off!

Among the laughs are some incredible stories of survival, including horse and motorbike accidents, snake bites, premature babies, heart attacks and a helicopter pilot who surviveda 12-metre crash while mustering cattle.

Funny, frightening and a few that will bring a tear, these stories show exactly why the RFDS is a service the bush simply cannot do without.

READ: What's your RFDS Story? LINKTO: https://rfttejobs.news/RFDS_Stories

Hooroo for now,

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.