David Claughton
Sydney, NSW
David Claughton was born in Perth and has a Communications degree from Murdoch University.
He began his career as a breakfast announcer in community radio where he won a national community radio award and developed a nationally accredited training course.
He has travelled widely and went with his family as an Australian volunteer to Nicaragua. He later went to Azerbaijan an information officer for the International Red Cross.
David started with the ABC in 2000 as a rural reporter in Mount Gambier, South Australia and became executive producer of the NSW Country Hour in 2005.
Latest by David Claughton
Could farmers get a fairer deal with the supermarkets if there was a mandatory code of conduct?
The ACCC is investigating the disparity between supermarket check-out prices and farmgate prices and one thing it could recommend is a mandatory code of conduct. But would it make the market fairer for growers?
Union dispute with DP World creates container backlog at Australian ports as meat industry calls for intervention
Ports operator DP World tells a Senate Estimates hearing nearly 55,000 containers filled with consumer goods and farm exports are stuck on the docks due to union stop-work action, as stakeholders call for federal government intervention.
Australian goat meat exports to China surge by 4,000 per cent in a year
Meat and Livestock Australia says the number of goats slaughtered in Australia has risen by almost 50 per cent since 2022 as China's appetite for the product continues to grow.
Chinese investment is crucial to Australia's energy transition. How will it happen?
Australia is known for blocking Chinese investment in critical minerals companies. As the country works towards net zero, an analyst warns we may need much greater investment from our biggest trading partner.
Photographer captures beauty of tiny creatures that keep soil healthy
Soil ecologist Frank Ashwood starting taking macro photographs of the life in UK soil as a COVID project. He has since come to Australia to see what is here.
If foot and mouth disease reaches Australia, could we contain it?
Off the back of Australia's failed eradication of varroa mite, researchers are testing the country's ability to control an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among the feral pig population. The results are troubling.
Failed farm technology has left farmers unable to prove their sustainability credentials, until now
To access key markets now, farmers have to prove they are reducing emissions, protecting biodiversity and saving energy and water, but finding the tech to report on all that has been difficult, until now.
Varroa mite outbreak and response sparks backyard beekeeper exodus
Australia's decision to abandon efforts to eradicate varroa mite is triggering an exodus of backyard and hobby beekeepers, with thousands already selling their bee smokers and hanging up their bee suits.
The cost of meat is starting to come down, but not as quickly as farmers would like
Farmers say modest falls in retail prices over the past 12 months are nothing compared to the collapse in livestock prices, and supermarkets should have discounted meat sooner.
Outback club investigated over race meeting needed to boost community morale
A race club that staged a successful stockhorse event at the weekend in a town immortalised in verse by Banjo Patterson faces an investigation by the state's thoroughbred racing regulator.
The lid has been lifted on the social lives of kangaroos. It turns out they are a lot like us
Researchers have found never-seen-before social characteristics in eastern grey kangaroos that show they may be more emotionally complex than previously thought.
Races providing much-needed 'outlet' for farmers scratched as drought threatens regional NSW
NSW Racing cancels two country race meetings due to safety concerns over dry tracks, angering a community struggling with the looming prospect of drought.
Travelling thousands of kilometres every year to inspire regional children with music
Michelle Leonard, the NSW AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year, has devoted her career to inspiring young people in regional areas to explore music.
The federal government is committed to finding more water for the Murray-Darling, so where will it come from?
Victoria has rejected a federal government deal to extend the deadline for recovering water for the basin plan, but it won't be able to stop water buybacks.
Australia's best wines named, overall winner declared 'shoulder to shoulder' with world's finest
The Sydney Royal Wine show judges sampled entries from 1,800 wineries and say Australia's offerings are going from strength to strength.
Farmers concerned by foreign bid for Australia's biggest fertiliser manufacturer
A state-owned Indonesian company is the frontrunner to buy Incitec Pivot but some farmers want it to stay Australian-owned.
Lessons from Queensland's 'struggling' eradication program as fire ants tipped to spread
An ecologist says it is likely fire ants are already in NSW and if they get into grain-growing regions they will spread quickly. So, how can they be stopped?
Deadline looms for China's response to lifting tariffs on Australia's $1.2b barley trade
There is no decision, but the Australian government is saying it expects China to lift the massive tariffs on Australian barley or it will go back to the WTO.
New access fee will generate millions in renewable energy zones, with hopes it will address areas of need in the bush
Regional communities will be able to access hundreds of millions of dollars in a new fund created to spread the benefits of the renewables boom.
'Extremely scary': Dairy farmers, ACCC concerned about Coles' bid to buy milk processing plants
Farmers and the nation's competition watchdog are worried about a deal that could see Coles control a large part of the milk supply chain.
Renewable energy projects are spreading across the landscape but not everyone is benefiting
A once-in-a-generation transition is happening in rural Australia, but the big switch to renewables is worrying some farmers.
These killer pests are now just 12km north of the Queensland-NSW border — and NSW farmers want more action
As red fire ants continue their march south towards NSW, farmers are calling for border checkpoints and industry groups are demanding a massive funding injection to stop them.
Mining company gets 'slap on the wrist' for taking 500 Olympic pools' worth of water without licence
Boggabri Coal mine on the Liverpool Plains in NSW will be forced to improve its water monitoring after breaching its licence conditions, but environmentalists and nearby farmers say the penalty doesn't go far enough.
'Strange' weather in NSW parches soil in some parts while drenching state's west
About 30 per cent of the state's crops are struggling due to unseasonably dry conditions last month. But elsewhere, some towns have received record rain while others have shivered through their coldest June mornings ever.
Could new varroa mite research in US stop the parasite destroying Australian bees?
US research has changed the bee industry's understanding of the small mite that is threatening Australia's honey production. Can it also provide a tool to eradicate it?