Pip Courtney
Pip Courtney is a journalist with ABC's Landline program.
She grew up in Tasmania and studied politics at the University of Tasmania. After graduating she joined the ABC in Hobart in 1986, where she worked in radio and then television news.
Pip joined Landline in 1993 working out of Canberra and then Melbourne. In 2000 she defected to the 7.30 Report, but came back to the Landline stable in 2001 when she moved to head office in Brisbane.
Pip has won awards for rural, business, environmental, medical and education reporting. In 2007 Pip and former Landline presenter Sally Sara were named Queensland journalists of the year for a feature story on depression in the bush called "Black Dog".
Ultra Black cattle gamble set to pay off for young entrepreneur
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A young West Australian has started the state's first Ultra Black cattle stud on a loan from his mum and dad.
Topics: beef-cattle, rural, wongan-hills-6603
WA couple take gamble with citrus after underground water discovery
Posted
Could underground water turn the Western Australian wheatbelt town of Moora into a horticulture hotspot? West Australian farming couple Sue Middleton and Michael Brennan believe they are proof it can.
Topics: rural, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, fruit, moora-6510, wa
High-tech vinegar a success story of the new bush 'gold rush'
Posted
The owner of a booming Stanthorpe vinegar business says cheap rural property prices offer great opportunities for food manufacturers and workers.
Topics: rural, housing, science-and-technology, food-processing, food-and-cooking, food-and-beverage, manufacturing, stanthorpe-4380
Australian beef gaining popularity in China's fifth-largest city
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A Chinese businessman who lived in Brisbane for three years is taking Aussie beef back home, opening a string of butcher shops in Chengdu, China's fifth-largest city.
Topics: beef-cattle, agribusiness, china, australia
Paddocks planted in smart houses to safeguard against climate change
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Farmers are already feeling the effects of climate change and, in a bid to protect their crop from destructive weather, are investing in protective houses for their paddocks.
Topics: rural, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, climate-change, environment, human-interest, agribusiness, agricultural-crops, fruits, vegetables, crop-harvesting, farm-labour, qld, australia
Toowoomba farmers jet off to Shanghai to open doors
Posted
A delegation of farmers and food manufacturers from the Toowoomba region in Queensland make history by flying to Shanghai to learn Chinese business practices.
Topics: rural, agribusiness, trade, business-economics-and-finance, china
Advice for Aussie producers for tapping into China
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China may be a place of endless business opportunity and excitement but Elders China CEO Craig Aldous shares some advice about patience and sticking to what you know.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, trade, rural, lifestyle-and-leisure, beef-cattle, china, australia
Meet the Chinese billionaire investing in Australian agriculture
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One of China's richest men reveals plans to invest $1 billion in Australian agriculture businesses by the end of the decade after injecting $200 million into a Queensland beef exporter and a New South Wales dairy venture.
Topics: agribusiness, beef-cattle, livestock, rural, business-economics-and-finance, kilcoy-4515, gooloogong-2805, china
Bundaberg brewer brings fruity twist to craft beer
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A Queensland agronomist is tackling the problem of food waste in Bundaberg by making craft beers out of harvest seconds, such as locally-grown sweet potatoes, blueberries and pumpkins.
Topics: rural, beverages, hospitality, agricultural-crops, agricultural-chemicals, qld, australia, bundaberg-4670
Quadriplegic farmer proves it's about brains as much as brawn
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Quadriplegic Rob Cook refuses to let the difficulty of getting carers on his family's remote cattle station in the Northern Territory stop him from being a cattleman.
Topics: rural, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, disabilities, human-interest, beef-cattle, qld
Meet the 'mummy blogger' helping bridge the rural divide
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One of the country's most popular "mummy bloggers" is working with a Queensland rural lobby group to help bridge the rural urban divide, teaching mothers about food, fibre and farming.
Topics: women-in-agriculture, rural-women, rural, social-media, information-and-communication, australia
How a Lake District shepherd gained a flock of followers on Twitter
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Four years ago James Rebanks, a shepherd from England's famously beautiful Lake District, opened a Twitter account. It was a decision that changed his life, growing to more than 80,000 followers and a memoir about life on the land with the ancient sheep.
Topics: rural, livestock, books-literature, united-kingdom
Tasmania emerges as unlikely avocado source as consumption skyrockets
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Australians love avocados more than ever before, and now growers are looking to some unlikely places to produce the popular fruit.
Topics: agribusiness, agricultural-marketing, agricultural-crops, rural, fruit, tas, australia
Milk price cut leaves farmers 'owing' hundreds of thousands
Posted
The surprise decision by Australia's largest dairy processor to slash milk prices has left farmers in shock, as they face the prospect of having to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars they were "overpaid".
Topics: dairy-production, livestock, rural, company-news, food-and-beverage, vic, inverloch-3996, australia, bega-2550, nsw
Rural business fixes 'bloke problem', resulting in huge profit jump
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A Queensland rural business turns a major carrot problem into a major profit, by increasing diversity in the company and hiring more women.
Topics: rural, rural-women, agribusiness, kalbar-4309
Wagyu of the sea: Cobia a culinary winner
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A project to commercialise a tropical ocean fish for Queensland prawn farmers to grow in their ponds is declared a culinary winner by the country's top chefs and food judges.
Topics: fish, fishing-aquaculture, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, rural, ayr-4807, australia
Interest in Queensland-bred 'super plums' grows around the world
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A Queensland-bred "super plum" is set to earn the Queensland Government millions of dollars in royalties in the next 20 years, as interest grows around the world.
Topics: rural, fruit, agricultural-crops, qld, australia
'It's feast or famine': How drought sent a Qld cattle breeder to King Island
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A well-known Queensland stud cattle breeder says years of drought and the changing climate is why his family sold its Queensland property and relocated half their herd to King Island.
Topics: beef-cattle, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, rainfall, king-island-7256
Rural communities fear 'data drought' for 18 months despite NBN satellite
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Frustrated rural internet customers fear it could be 18 months before their substandard services are improved by the NBN Co's satellite Sky Muster.
Topics: internet-technology, rural, distance-education, australia
Campbell Newman eyes future in agricultural robots
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The former Queensland premier and army engineer speaks about life after politics, including his investment in agricultural robotics.
Topics: government-and-politics, states-and-territories, liberals, rural, agricultural-machinery, qld
Can multi-peril crop insurance help farmers prepare for climate change?
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A small but increasing number of Australian farmers are insuring their crops against drought, and with concern growing about a predicted El Nino and the uncertainties of climate change, many believe this could be the way of the future.
Topics: agricultural-insurance, agribusiness, rural, agricultural-crops, federal-government, warracknabeal-3393, goondiwindi-4390, qld, australia
Emu, crocodile meat off the menu at Government House dinner: Cosgrove
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Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove says emu and crocodile will be off the menu for foreign diplomats dining at Australia's Government House in Canberra.
Topics: rural, food-and-cooking, canberra-2600, australia
Plague locusts devastate pastures in central Queensland
Posted
Swarms of plague locusts are devastating pastures at Banana in central Queensland with one farmer saying it is the worst case he has seen in 20 years.
Topics: pest-management, rural, agricultural-crops, livestock, beef-cattle, banana-4702, qld, australia
Last of Mary Valley properties sold during Traveston dam project back in private hands
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The last of the properties bought by the Queensland Government for the failed Traveston dam project near Gympie are back in private hands, but the State Government has been left with a $250 million shortfall.
Topics: dairy-production, community-development, regional-development, activism-and-lobbying, regional, gympie-4570, traveston-4570, maroochydore-4558
Forrest floats ambitious plan for droughtproof Australia
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Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest calls for the harvesting of 5,000 gigalitres of water from underground aquifers and rivers to droughtproof existing agricultural areas.
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, drought, rural, australia
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