Latest news with #LukeRadford
ABC News
06-06-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Snow lovers excited for bumper falls
Nick Grimm: A surging mass of air from Antarctica is bringing an icy blast that will hit south-eastern Australia this weekend, but the wintry conditions are also expected to bring widespread rainfall to areas where communities have been battered by a record dry. The polar chill is also set to deliver promising conditions for the opening of the ski season. For those who like that sort of thing, Luke Radford reports. Luke Radford: The alpine hills are alive with the sound of artificial snow making, but they might not be needed for long because up to 60cm of snow is forecast to fall on Australia's ski resorts this weekend. And early birds are keen to take advantage of it, like Debbie Cadwell and her husband Tim, who are on the road to Victoria's Mount Hotham. Debbie Cadwell: The long weekend, we don't usually expect to have a ski weekend as such. It's more a social weekend. Often there isn't enough snow. But this weekend there is forecast for some substantial snowfalls, which is lucky - sorry that's my husband... Luke Radford: That was my next question. Debbie Cadwell: ... He's very excited. He's an excitable person. Luke Radford: That snowy weather is thanks to a blast of air welling up from the polar regions. The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that despite the cold start, it's actually on track to be a warmer than average winter. But Bureau climatologist Caitlin Minney says that doesn't mean less snow. Caitlin Minney: The warmer than average forecast doesn't rule out the possibility of a good snow season or some really good snow coverage during the snow season. Over this opening weekend, we are forecasting snow across a lot of the alpine regions. Luke Radford: Over the border in New South Wales, resorts are making their final preparations. Jessica Rutherford is the visitor experience manager at Charlotte Pass. Jessica Rutherford: We've got snow on the forecast really close, so it's all looking up. We found that year after year the snow does take a little bit longer to kind of fully hit the ground. So we would rather open with a full resort with full snow coverage than open early just to get the lift spinning but only be able to offer a little bit of the resort. Luke Radford: While the chairlifts spin up at the ski resorts, one at Jindabyne will remain firmly in place. But that's because it's a sculpture which the local community raised $25,000 to purchase. Oliver Kapetanakos is president of the Jindabyne Chamber of Commerce. Oliver Kapetanakos: Chairlifts are synonymous with Jindabyne. We are an altitude town, probably one of the very few places in Australia, I think it's the only place in Australia that uses chairlifts for mountain biking, as well of course to get to the highest point of Australia, Mount Kosciuszko. So to have one in town would be great. I believe it will be the 125th big thing in Australia. Luke Radford: The chance of a good snow season is also good news for Australia's alpine creatures, like the endangered mountain pygmy possum. Dean Heinze is an independent wildlife biologist affiliated with La Trobe University. Dean Heinze: When there's a great cover of snow, the temperatures there are about two degrees. But when that snow cover isn't as good, so it's more patchy or broken up, then the temperatures in those subniveal spaces, that can fluctuate. And what that means is that for a hibernating animal, that makes them uncomfortable and then they wake up out of their hibernation. Nick Grimm: Wildlife biologist Dean Heinze ending that report by Luke Radford and Adrian Reardon.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
CSIRO takes stock of food system.
Samantha Donovan: Australia's National Science Agency, the CSIRO, has completed the first ever national stocktake of our $800 billion food system. The researchers say while our farming sector is among the best in the world, there are big gaps, like the fact not all Australians can actually afford fresh food. And that view is backed by academics and even farmers groups, who say that for far too long, so-called food policy has focused on farming rather than the bigger picture. Luke Radford prepared this report. Luke Radford: Chances are, when you think about where your food comes from, this is what comes to mind. A farm, where hard-working farmers are toiling away so you can enjoy a parmigiana or a salad or a bit of toast in the morning. But Sustainability Research Director at the CSIRO, Larelle McMillan, says that's just scratching the surface. Larelle McMillan: What we've kind of looked at in this report is everything from nutrition, retail environment, food safety, Indigenous food systems, policy coherence, sustainability aspects, circular economy, hidden costs, as you mentioned, manufacturing and economics. Luke Radford: That report is an all-encompassing look by the CSIRO at the food industry, from the paddock to the plate. The researchers argue that food as an industry is split up into at least 11 different silos, which are essentially separate industries that don't really talk to each other. Larelle McMillan says because it's been that way for so long, we struggle to come up with long-term plans. Larelle McMillan: The food system works for most Australians. We're a food-producing nation. Our farmers do an incredible job of producing food, not just for our national consumption, but for our export markets. But we balance this by noting that it doesn't work for all Australians. Luke Radford: Australian farming is incredibly productive. Just 100,000 farmers feed nearly 100 million people, including 27 million Australians. But the researchers argue that those raw statistics are part of a stark contradiction, because up to 3.5 million Australian households ran out of food at some point last year. Associate Professor Liesel Spencer specialises in food security at the School of Law at the University of Western Sydney. Liesel Spencer: What that really looks like is they run out of food. They go a day or more without eating. The food in the house runs out and there's no more money to buy anymore. So if we're thinking about regulating the whole food system holistically, we have to go beyond just we're doing an amazing job of producing enough food and think about how we're distributing that and how that's available for everybody so everybody gets a fair chance at a healthy diet. Luke Radford: What Associate Professor Spencer and the CSIRO are arguing is that we need to change how we actually think about food. The CSIRO report also calls for a national food plan, something the National Farmers Federation has also campaigned for. Jolyon Burnett is the chair of the National Farmers Federation Horticulture Council. Jolyon Burnett: The compliance burden that producers have to face can make up as much as a third of the cost of doing business for these people. And when margins are shown to absolutely razor thin levels, then you begin to see that price is just one part in a very complex jigsaw puzzle. Luke Radford: Mr Burnett also says even things like nutritional value and how best to provide it need to be re-examined. Jolyon Burnett: We already know that the consumption of fresh produce, fresh fruit and vegetables across Australia is declining. These things are all linked and until we begin to sit down and try and map this out, rather than just whacking band-aids on particular parts of it, we'll continue to see the number of farmers declining. Luke Radford: The Albanese government has committed to a new national food security strategy that it calls Feeding Australia, with more details set to come later this year. Samantha Donovan: Luke Radford reporting.
