Agribusiness

Five years after being the subject of high profile police raids and multiple charges, the legal saga facing three Perth business people is over due to failures of the prosecution deemed “totally unacceptable” by the judge.

The state government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation have signed a $48 million scientific partnership for research into Western Australia’s grainbelt soils and boosting grain production for local growers.

South Fremantle-based seafood company Mareterram has backed a takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Sea Harvest.

CBH Group has announced a $128 million surplus for the year to September 2018, compared to the previous year’s result of $248 million which was boosted by a record grain harvest.

Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly has signalled he may well walk back plans to take control of about 17 per cent of an enlarged local lobster catch, saying his priorities would be an International Lobster Festival in Perth and a domestic quota.

Opponents continue to blast government changes to lobster licensing arrangements as it emerges that, despite the state potentially pocketing nearly $70 million annually from the moves, a cost benefit analysis of the major policy shift unveiled in December was not undertaken.

Western Australian grain growers have had one of their best ever years, with 16 million tonnes moving through cooperative handler CBH Group’s network, about 400,000 tonnes above August estimates.

Andrew Forrest’s agribusiness portfolio is set for a big expansion, with his Harvest Road Group planning a 60,000 head per year cattle development worth up to $50 million in the wheatbelt.

The state government has assured fishing industry representatives it has no plans to change how it determines catch limits across the sector after a surprise move last week to create, and take control of, new licences for local lobsters.