University + Economy + Agriculture
The Northern Rivers economy is grown on the red volcanic soil: the macadamia orchards, the cane, and the dairy country. Southern Cross University, anchored at Lismore, is the region's biggest research surface, with work in marine science, regenerative agriculture and methane and dung-beetle research. Around it sit the data-rich agricultural sector, the Australian Macadamia Society's crop forecasts, the farmer-owned Norco dairy co-op and the sugar mills, and the regional development bodies.
This region carries the fleet's strongest per-LGA data suite so far, with profile.id across all six local government areas, economy.id, REMPLAN and Your Council figures. Data stories draw on those with a methodology note that says exactly where each number came from and what it can and cannot be compared with.
University + Economy + Agriculture
612,073 passenger movements in 2024-25, 18th nationally, from the Commonwealth's own airport file. Ballina is now 2.4 times the size of Coffs Harbour, and its best national rank came in the first COVID year without it doing anything.
University + Economy + Agriculture
The $4 million Australian Coffee Research Program runs five years, led by Southern Cross University with AgriFutures Australia and three other partners. Australia’s coffee industry is around 40 growers on about 400 hectares, and northern NSW is one of the growing regions. What that money works out to per hectare, and the threefold gap between two partners on how much coffee the country drinks.
18 August 2026
University + Economy + Agriculture
The Australian Macadamia Society has revised its 2026 national crop forecast down to 56,888 tonnes in-shell (at 3.5 per cent moisture), off its June assessment, from 59,080 tonnes in March, still a big rebound on the 43,800-tonne 2025 crop. What the national number means for the macadamia’s native home.
25 July 2026
University + Economy + Agriculture
Five years on, Southern Cross University’s own data says its six-week-term Southern Cross Model lifted student success from 74.8 to 91.1 per cent and nearly halved first-year attrition. Why the region’s university decided dropping out was its problem to fix, not the students’.
24 July 2026