Both the Minister and Shadow Minister for Agriculture will come to East Gippsland in the next fortnight, having taken up invitations from Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, to visit our drought-affected communities.“Having asked Minister Jaala Pulford twice in the past two parliamentary sitting weeks to come and discuss the dry conditions and challenges local farmers are experiencing, it was...

Patties Foods has been named as the ‘Food on the Go Supplier of the Year’ at the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores in Melbourne recently.Bairnsdale based Patties Foods beat Mrs Macs and Handmade Food Co., to clinch the award.More than 650 people from the Australian convenience industry celebrated their achievements at a gala awards dinner.Patties General Manager of ‘Out of Home’,...

Fenning Timbers is calling on the State Government to end timber supply uncertainty and create sustainability and perpetuity for the industry.Fenning Timbers is among a group of six Victorian sawmillers that have released a bold plan to remove Victoria’s reliance on native forests by transitioning to plantation supply by 2040.Frustrated by State Government stalling and inaction, the six...

Despite never having played a game of football, umpire, Jim Walker, lives and breathes Australia’s most cherished game.Walker is in his third season as an East Gippsland umpire, which has been filled with many highlights.Passion for football has become a key part of his life.“The love of footy got me into umpiring and I’ve watched it ever since I was a kid,” he said.“One night I decided to go to...

A project to develop a virtual reality harvest training tool for the Victorian horticulture sector has been awarded $1.6 million in funding from the Department of Education and Training’s Workforce Training Innovation Fund.A collaboration between leading horticultural business, Costa Group, Melbourne Polytechnic and the not for profit East Gippsland Food Cluster, the project will utilize virtual...