Biosecurity

Recent heavy rain has impacted the treatment of fire ants in and around Murwillumbah ... treatment program will resume in Murwillumbah when the ground dries out ... treatment can only be applied with the written consent of the property owner.

Fire ants have been discovered in Wardell, south of Ballina, New South Wales, after Labor was too slow to act on its red imported fire ant response program. Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the latest infestation, 85 kilometres south of the Queensland  border, is another sign that Labor has lost control of eradicating the pest.

Farmers are calling for a major effort to stamp out fire ants in NSW after the insidious pests were discovered near Ballina. According to the NSW Government, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) detected a Red Imported Fire Ant nest at Wardell, south of Ballina on Friday.

Fire ants have made it to Wardell. NSW Department of Primary Industries said there is an exclusion zone of 5km around Wardell in an attempt to halt the spread of fire ants after a resident contacted them.

50 Australian agricultural producer representative groups have unified to send a powerful, collective message to the Federal Government about their strong opposition to the proposed 10 per cent biosecurity tax. These groups represent the views of tens of thousands of Australian agricultural producers across the full spectrum of farm commodities including grains, livestock, horticulture, dairy, forestry, seafood, etc.

Council is trialling drone technology to treat mosquito populations as the insect’s breeding season takes full effect after recent heavy rain. It is also calling on the community to help reduce the impact of mosquitoes through a range of simple, protective measures in the home.

Suzie Christensen. The first summer helicopter winch operation has concluded, with the Helitreck helicopter departing the Island Sunday, 10 December ... LHIB staff and external contractors successfully completed over 2,000 person hours of priority Weed Eradication Program...

Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh. Floodwater is known to be a carrier of biological, chemical and physical hazards affecting food safety during production and processing of fresh horticultural produce. Runoff from livestock, industrial, residential and sewage treatment areas into waterways and their overflow can contaminate water sources, production fields and postharvest processing facilities.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is concerned not enough is being done to protect the rights of landholders when it comes to the development and operation of transmission lines across farmland … newly released Land Access Code of Practice falls short of offering farmers the protections they need.

The Victorian Government has launched a review of the current approaches to dingo management and conservation to quell its radical left-wing backers. At the same time, it has extended a legislative rule allowing control of dingoes by only one year, as opposed to five years in previous instances...