Rural Suppliers and Industry Associations
Local Rural Suppliers
These are your local agricultural agencies and they offer a wide range of products and services. This is a good place to start for advice on equipment, machinery, financial services, insurance, farm services, merchandise, fertiliser, livestock and real estate.
For information relating to farm safety and children safety on the farm or for courses and services available visit the Farmsafe WA website. The website also provides useful tools for people to conduct their own safety needs analysis.
Australian Farmers’ Market Association
For smaller producers who are starting out and trying to find an avenue for selling your produce, farmers markets are a great place to showcase your product, do market research on what is in demand and what products you might be able to sell.
The website also has a useful links page which can provide connections to people involved in your chosen industry, industry training or information.
Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA)
The Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is an Australian government statutory authority which centralises the registration of all agricultural and veterinary chemical products into the Australian marketplace.
If you need to know if a chemical is registered for use in Australia you can search the APVMA website. Chemical which are not registered in Australia are not legally allowed to be used.
Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI)
AWI provides wool producers a wide variety of information, products, tools and training opportunities to assist with getting the most out of their livestock. Some of the useful tools which are provided free online are making more from sheep, tutorials on how to do worm egg counts, advice for treating lice and much more.
AWI also has links to WormBoss, which offers news and information update on effective worm management.
FarmStyle is an online community for small and hobby farmers to learn everything about farming and country living. The website has information on buying and managing your small property, running your small business and selling your produce.
FarmDiversity.com.au is the first step in exploring something new for your farm. This initiative of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation allows you to search crop and animal production enterprise alternatives by type or location to discover which may be best suited to your farm.
Horses, land and water provide a variety of resources which are designed to aid landholders to manage their desire to run horses without causing environmental, social or health issues. There is an action planner, whole property, paddock and intensive horse keeping management guidelines.
Kondinin Group provides a wide variety of research, news and information products to assist landholders with managing their property more effectively and efficiently. They also produce a monthly magazine with the latest information and research, if you would like to access all areas you will need to subscribe.
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA)
MLA provides research, development and marketing services to the Australian red meat industry. There is information on markets, stocking rates, food safety, events, publications and useful calculators.
The MLA website also provides cattle, sheep and goat livestock owner’s information about the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), National Vendor Declaration (NVD) and Livestock Producer Assurance (LPA) program.
National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA)
For people who are interested in finding out more information on how to become a certified organic producer, NASAA has useful resources, templates and forms, information and publications.
NASAA also runs events on a wide variety of topics to assist produces with sustainable outputs. There is a useful links page which provides information on a variety of organisations which is useful for organic producers.
Organic Association of Western Australia
The Organic Association of Western Australia website has some useful general information on growing organics and certification process. There is also a useful link to commercial members which provides links to retail outlets, producers and input suppliers.
The Association also has a number of active regional meetings running which provide people with the opportunity to learn new skills or improve their existing ones.
The Southern Forests Food Council, taking in the towns of Manjimup, Pemberton, Walpole and Northcliffe, plays a critical role in unifying the area's diverse producers to strengthen economic performance, attract further investment, create jobs, promote regional pride and ultimately achieve recognition as a highly regarded culinary tourism destination.
VegetablesWA has a variety of useful information relating to irrigation, good practice, nutrition, research and development relating to vegetable production. They also produce a useful publication called WA Growers.