THE Coalition government says it’s improving access to safe and effective agricultural and veterinary (agvet) chemicals, with almost $2.5 million in grants approved for priority uses, including for citrus fruit, field peas and dairy cattle.
Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce said the grants would help fast-track new products and approve greater uses of existing chemicals, to give growers and farmers better access to a broader range of chemicals.
"Agvet chemicals stop the spread of disease amongst our livestock and boost our productivity by eliminating damaging pests and diseases from our agricultural produce,” he said.
“This funding will enable rural research and development corporations to generate data to support applications for new chemical uses to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).
“Applications will seek to gain permanent access to new uses of a chemical and maintain, broaden or gain new access to a use through a minor use permit, which provides greater flexibility to farmers and may lead to better environmental outcomes.”
The 51 approved grants, shared among Horticulture Innovation Australia, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Dairy Australia, will address many of the priority uses, including for citrus fruit, game birds, dairy cattle, tropical and sub-tropical fruits.
Mr Joyce said this second round of grants were part of the Coalition’s four-year $8m investment to improve access to safe and effective agvet chemicals, including work to establish an official Australian crop grouping list and associated APVMA guidelines; migrate some APVMA permits to product labels; and establish agvet collaborative forums.
He said ensuring farmers had access to agvet chemicals that were both effective and safe was crucial to agricultural and livestock industries, the community and the environment.
"Australia is a relatively small market, which can sometimes mean that the cost involved in registering an agvet chemical makes the venture uncommercial,” he said.
"This funding will help Australian producers access the same new and innovative agvet chemicals as some of their international competitors.”
Mr Joyce said the Coalition Government had worked hard to make agvet chemicals as readily available and cost effective as possible.
“The $8 million minor use commitment complements the $17.1 million white paper reforms, the relocation of the APVMA to Armidale to develop a centre of excellence and the pet food and stock feed reforms to provide our agricultural industries with efficient access to chemicals in a contemporary regulatory environment,” he said.
A third grant round is being developed for 2017-18.
Animal Medicines Australia Executive Director Ben Stapley said his group welcomed the announcement.
“One of the key challenges for our members is meeting the high costs of developing Australian-specific data and the program to date has been successful in building collaboration across the supply chain,” he said.
“This announcement will ensure that more farmers can access more technologies to help them grow their businesses.”
CropLife Australia CEO Matthew Cossey said the importance of Australian farmer access to the tools and products essential to the globally competitive production of food, feed and fibre could not be underestimated.
Mr Cossey said a lack of pest and weed control options had a number of consequences, including acting as a barrier to the development of new agricultural industries in Australia.
“The use of agricultural chemicals underpins more than $17 billion of agricultural output, which is why small, smart investments such as these grants are crucial for Australian agricultural productivity,” he said.
“Economic analysis of the US’s minor use program has estimated that for every dollar invested by the US government in a similar initiative, the program facilitates a return to the US economy of US$550.
“The first stages of the minor use and specialty crops program has delivered great success and also identified a range of future priorities important to the Australia farming sector.
“This also highlights why a commitment by Government to further funding is needed.”
The move was also welcomed by the National Farmers’ Federation, with President Fiona Simson saying access to the latest and most effective ag-vet chemicals was “integral” to the ongoing productivity and profitability of farmers.
Ms Simson said Australian farmers, such as fruit growers, dairy farmers or grain growers were under constant threat of “besiegement” from pests, weeds and diseases which had the ability to destroy a crop and significantly limit the productivity of animals.
“If not controlled pests, weeds and diseases can also prevent access to some of our most valuable markets,” she said.
She said the government’s commitment recognised farmers needed long-term access to new, effective ag-vet chemicals and minor use permits for transient outbreaks.
“If there is an outbreak of a pest or a disease not ordinarily occurring in a farmer’s operating environment they need to be able to quickly access a control mechanism,” she said.
“This was highlighted with the outbreak of the Russian Wheat Aphid in South Australia and Victoria last year where the timely issuing of minor use permits was key to controlling the potentially damaging pest.
“This announcement represents an investment in the continued long-term prosperity of Australia’s farming sector.”