Stay up-to-date with these agribusiness snippets.

Carbon farming grant

The Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) is a Federal Government scheme enabling farmers and land managers to earn income from reducing emissions through changes to agricultural and land management techniques. Farmers and land managers will be able to generate credits that can be sold to other businesses wanting to offset their own carbon pollution. Valid until 30 June 2014, the CFI Communications Program grant will offer up to $4 million for Regional Landcare Facilitators (RLFs) to collaborate with farmers, land managers and their key influencers to identify how they can participate in and benefit from the opportunities created by the CFI and carbon farming.

• Check the grant eligibility guidelines.
• Read the CFI Fact Sheet.
• Read more about the Carbon Farming Initiative.

Biodiversity Fund

Eligible farmers and land managers can apply to receive grants from the Biodiversity Fund, which aims to enhance biodiversity and build greater environmental resilience on public and private land. It will also provide support to applicants who’d like to take advantage of the new carbon market by creating carbon stores or improving existing stores. Around $946 million has been invested until 2017. Round one of funding has closed.

• To receive information about the round two funding process, subscribe now.
• Find out more about the Biodiversity Fund

Murray-Darling Basin irrigation grant

This Federal Government grant funds upgrades of outdated irrigated infrastructure, allowing users to get the most out of their limited water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin. On offer is up to $350,000 per applicant. The money can be used towards improving the efficiency and productivity of irrigation production, and returning more water to the environment as a consequence. The closing date for applications is 29 October 2012, or until all allocated funds are exhausted (funds are currently still available).

• Find out more about Irrigation Modernisation Planning Assistance or to determine eligibility, read the assistance guidelines or download the application form.

Hot apps

The paddock logbook now has some sophisticated IT equivalents, with smartphone applications streamlining the way farmers manage their work. To find out which apps could simplify your working day and save you time, check out the following.

Free apps

WirelessFarmer. A Farm Management and Quality Assurance application that allows farmers to record and access information on everyday business and farming requirements. Find out more.

Weeds: The Ute Guide. For in-paddock use, this app is designed to help growers identify common annual, biennial and perennial weeds in southern Australia. Where possible, photographs have been provided of the weeds at various growth stages to ensure correct identification. Each weed has a calendar to show which month/s it’s likely to be present in the paddock. The application allows users to search, identify, compare and email photographs of weeds to their networks. Find out more.

Wine industry NEWS. Designed for wine industry professionals, this app covers industry news, trade shows, sommelier trends and vineyard real estate. Find out more.

MyBizShield. Create a step-by-step customised emergency management and recovery plan for your business to mitigate risk against unforeseen events such as fire, flood, theft or staff illness. Find out more

ASX. Review shares via the Australian Securities Exchange app, which allows you to receive real-time company announcement alerts to your nominated top 20 companies. Find out more.

NAB. Check account balances, pay bills, transfer funds and access Foreign Exchange calculators. Find out more.

Paid apps

TAX Australia with BAS. Get your Business Activity Statement, your profit and loss statements, and your income and expenses tracking all sorted with this app created for individuals, sole traders and small businesses. You can also determine PAYG and track an unlimited amount of expenses and incomes. Find out more.

F-Track Live. This app tracks mob livestock movements, events and treatments, plus cropping details. It also lists current market commodity prices, is integrated with U-see tank monitoring equipment and has a silo manager function that records on-farm storage as well as a fuel manager that records fuel consumption and storage. F-Track Live has a free 30-day trial, after which it’s available via subscription. Find out more.

iHerd. An app that lets station owners and managers streamline livestock and herd management. Track herds by group, sub group and breed, record paddock data and key in your on-site chemicals, including animal treatments by dosage size. Monitor cattle transfers between paddocks, yards and properties with automatic counting. This app claims to save approximately 12 hours of labour per manager, per month. Find out more.

CropMate Variety Chooser. Developed by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, this app helps farmers choose varieties of barley, canola, chickpea, oats, triticale and wheat. Key in your region and desired disease resistance levels and then view comparative yield trials to see details of each variety. Find out more.