UNDER NSW Farmers’ Memorandum of Understanding with state government we secured a priority to strengthen biosecurity arrangements for our state’s agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture producers.
The commitment has already seen new laws – the Biosecurity Act 2015, formation of the Biosecurity Advisory Committee and consultation on new regulations.
The committee will focus on horticulture bio-security issues, such as fruit fly, a pest that significantly impacts fruit and vegetable growers across NSW, with specific commitments to on-farm controls and exports impacts.
Two thirds of NSW’s $1.4 billion horticulture industry is susceptible to Queensland fruit fly, which impacts both domestic and offshore markets.
With the phase out of in-field use of Fenthion and Dimethoate, many growers struggle to manage fruit fly in their orchards.
The loss of these tools has seen a number of North Coast orchardists remove high value fruit trees from production.
Without the development and extension of new options into other growing regions, a real risk exists that other orchardists down the NSW Coast will follow their lead.
NSW Farmers believes the government should emulate its Victorian counterpart that last year moved to beef up its biosecurity response with a statewide Fruit Fly Action Plan, which includes funding for one state and five regional co-ordinators to oversee the plan’s implementation.
A statewide plan could implement crucial recommendations from the national fruit fly RDE plan to develop and extend regional and crop specific management strategies.
More field work is needed to lay the groundwork so farmers can access replacements for Fenthion and Dimethoate.
A statewide plan must also satisfy the needs of trading partners to aid the export of high value produce, such as cherries from the Central West and Southern Tablelands.
Biosecurity is integral to the future of agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture and NSW Farmers will continue to work with government to strengthen it for all producers.
