Queensland Country Hour

Queensland remains one of Australia's largest coal states, and young people are flocking to mining for well-paying jobs in a cost of living crisis. Ambitious new emissions reduction targets are now set in law, but without the the people, the land and the planning approvals in place can it truly decarbonise?As farmers stare down significant long-term threats to farm productivity, resilience and sustainability, Australia's top scientists say now is the time to change

From natural disasters, to poor prices from retailers and world markets, there are plenty of reasons not to become a farmer. But as some veteran producers retire and others exit altogether, there are plenty of keen beans ready to take up the job. 

The term 'horse-power' may have come about as a marketing tool to sell steam engines in the 1770s, but for the biennial Eidsvold Cattle Drive in country Queensland it's still literal. Using horses to move cattle into town, they're raising money for charity at the same time. In age of urbanisation it could be easy to forget the role horses play in our food supply chain, or the careers on offer working with them, like becoming an outback horse trainer. On the eve of a planned trial of driverless trucks, it shows just how far moving goods around Australia has come.    

The Australian wool industry has set new sustainability standards, and wants to spruik its green credentials to the world. But is it fashionable, or even affordable, to wear wool anymore?

The state government has bought the outback station nestled between Longreach and the Diamantina Lakes, planning to create a corridor of national parks in some of the most unique country in Queensland. It's the next chapter for a landscape known for its opal bearing-ranges, indigenous watering holes and as a cattle and sheep grazing operation. It comes as the federal government outlined the next stage of it's plan for a tough new Environmental Protection Agency to police conservation efforts.  

You don't have to live in the bush to benefit from a little less screen time, and a little more green time. Farmers have long benefited from keeping pastures green and landscapes vibrant, but being a custodian of nature has its challenges, especially when it comes to the devastation caused by floods, fires and droughts. As they work to improve the resilience of their land, new research suggests they may also be improving their brain health and mental health, and all it takes spending time in nature. 

They've survived since the Jurassic period, at least 145 million years, but now Bunya Pines are under attack, and national park lovers could be contributing to their demise. Bushwalking, mountain biking, four-wheel-driving, timber harvesting and feral pig incursions can all spread the problem, but there's a simple way to prevent it if you read the signs.  

For decades manufacturing has been leaving Australian shores in favour of cheaper Asian industrial powerhouses like India and China, but now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says its time to bring it back. But can Australia really compete with massive economies like the US, which is also making a strong bid to provide the technology that will underpin a clean energy future? If it can, indigenous Australians say they should be involved from the start, and what lessons can be learned from the innovation already happening in rural Australia?

It's become a right of passage for young people from about 40 countries around the world - go backpacking in Australia and while you're there pick up a jobs in a regional area to make money and extend your stay. More than a tourist program, the Working Holiday Maker visa has become a key source of workers in agriculture, which is why some farmers are nervous about potential changes that could see fewer people take up the challenge of a farm job.  

A new era for Meat and Livestock Australia, as the new managing director Michael Crowley takes the reigns.   

Sugar cane was brought to Australia on the first fleet in 1788, and until now it has been grown to produce raw sugar.But the crop is incredibly versatile, and mapping its genome could see it used in biofuels, bioplastics, perfume, and even sustainable fabrics.As motorists are told to brace for rising oil prices, the farmers behind the crop say political leadership is the only piece missing in the renewable fuel puzzle. 

Built in the 1920s to serve as an early warning beacon for cyclones and storms, the Bureau of Meteorology weather station on this tiny Island in the Coral Sea has been providing continuous weather observations ever since.It takes the four observers who live there two days to travel the 450km by boat from Cairns, and once they're there, they are in it for the long haul. 

Prenti Downs in the heart of Western Australia has download speeds good enough to watch the cricket and an upload speed that allows live streaming on YouTube.Jack Carmody says many pastoralists have expressed an interest in adopting the same system, and while the cost of the investment stops some, the main barrier is a lack of confidence in technology.

A parfait made from Japanese quail cells has become the first Australian lab-grown meat to hit the world market.It's not cheap or widely available, but the company behind it hopes Aussies will soon get their first taste of the luxury "novelty" food. Could it be the future of meat - or is it destined to follow other distinctive delicacies like canned rabbit, which once dominated diner demand but has since disappeared from the dinner table?

Mining giant Glencore says its project to trial injecting carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power station in southern Queensland into an aquifer in the Great Artesian Basin would be a 'first step' toward large-scale carbon capture and storage.After 35 years of work to restore the water source, farmers say it's a backward step. 

Atlanta Baker just wants to take her dad down to the dam for a cuppa, but aged care funding rules mean that dream is inaccessible. 

Health services are getting more expensive, and a lack of GPs make getting quality health care a huge problem in rural areas. But what are some solutions to this dire situation? 

Farm safety advocates are urging farmers to report all incidents including near misses on farms, as Queensland Parliament passes new quad bike regulations.

Federal Parliament debates giving the ACCC more power over supermarkets. Then over in aisle seven, the spotlight is being shone on your data collected by Coles and Woolworths through the use of rewards cards.

It's been a wetter summer than expected in Queensland and communities are isolated and in recovery after flooding from months ago.