AgriCast Episode 18: December 11, 2024 | Building biosecurity resilience

1 year ago

Queensland Country Life editor Lucy Kinbacher explores the vital measures needed to protect Queensland from major biosecurity challenges, including foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, and African swine fever.

Transcript

00:00Hi, welcome to AgriCast by ACM and joining me is the editor of Queensland Country Live

00:13to talk about biosecurity, which has been a very hot topic across the country and especially

00:18in that state. Welcome, Lisa Kinbacker. Tell us a bit about the cattle tick outbreak in

00:23particular that's unfolding in the Roma district and the implications that has for producers

00:28in the area.

00:29So Queensland does have a cattle tick line and it's really important. Cattle that are

00:33exposed to ticks or immune to ticks stay on one side and cattle that aren't stay on the

00:37other. So it's a pretty obvious situation. In November, we saw or heard of reports in

00:42Biomount of some tick outbreaks in clean sow yards. It does have big impacts because those

00:49cattle when they are exposed to ticks that they're not normally exposed to can have repercussions

00:54to weight gain or even milk and in worst case scenarios could lead to death as well

00:59for particular cattle. Even I guess more concerning is the fact that the government's since come

01:03out and said that there's just over 180 incursions of this happening. So this isn't just a one-off.

01:08Lisa, you've got a new government in Queensland and they have announced a possible extra 100

01:16jobs in biosecurity. What would that mean for the agriculture industry?

01:21Yeah. So sort of a big situation, especially with this Biomount case was yeah, the resourcing

01:26and the staff and the support. And as anyone understands, employing people at the moment

01:30isn't easy. And so the government leading into this election made a very bold statement

01:35or promise, sorry, around biosecurity. And one of those promises was 100 new staff on

01:39the ground. We're yet to see them, obviously. It's only been very recent, our last election,

01:44but the hope is that by having more of those staff on the ground, these sorts of cases

01:48and incidents, there will be more support for producers, either when it happens and

01:52then afterwards. A lot of people have said that perhaps it's that they don't need a university

01:56degree, that this is a trade and there needs to be a lot more attraction for people to

02:01want to take on these positions. So it's something that no doubt we'll hear more about.

02:05What are some of the other biosecurity concerns that Queensland is grappling with at the moment?

02:09Yeah, I wouldn't say that we're grappling with them, but we're very cautious of them.

02:13Big ones like FMD and LSD are really important. Obviously, we do export a lot of cattle out

02:18of this country. In the swine industry, the pork industry, there's a lot of fears there.

02:22And even the tomato industry, we've had other cases in other states of diseases there too.

02:27So biosecurity isn't just related to the cattle industry. It's something that could affect

02:31any of our production and food.

02:33Is African swine fever a concern or a worry for some farmers, with obviously North Queensland

02:39being so close to PNG?

02:41A hundred percent it is. I think it is, you know, any disease that's going to impact an

02:45industry is of concern, even if it isn't here yet. And we only have to look to see how easily

02:51and quickly it can get here, you know, airborne diseases and that sort of thing. So yes, it

02:56is a concern. And that's why there's a lot of producer groups and lobby groups that are

03:00really leaning on the government to make sure that these sort of things don't get in and

03:04ensuring that they understand the repercussions if they did.

03:08Lucy Kinbeth, thank you so much for joining us.

AgriCast Episode 18: December 11, 2024 | Building biosecurity resilience

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended