South Australian canola growers reporting increase in trespassing for pictures of crop

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Canola farmers in South Australia are reporting a sharp increase in people trespassing into their fields to take selfies with the bright yellow flowers. Farmers say people risk their safety but also the health of the crops that they've struggled to grow amid ongoing drought. Charlie Bensen is an agronomist working around the Mallee region in South Australia and says it’s hard to tell how many people are trespassing to take photos.

Transcript

00:00Typically every year we get a few growers that sort of, yeah, sort of catch a few, run

00:07around in a canola field waving their selfie sticks around. So, yeah, with any luck, we

00:12start to get the message through that, yeah, it is our private property and it's not really

00:17an opportunity for clout on Instagram, it's how we make our income.

00:22So what's this doing to the crop then?

00:24So the biggest issue that we have with sort of members of the public walk through canola

00:31crops is primarily a biosecurity issue. So, you know, disease is a massive issue with canola

00:38crops as well as insecticides, sorry, like our grubs that chew and damage the crops. So,

00:47yeah, if we have people sort of going from paddock to paddock and like going from farm

00:52to farm, then there's a chance that there'll be this spread of disease, spread of insects

00:56and, yeah, like it just sort of damages the biosecurity of Australia's agricultural industry.

01:02So how are farmers dealing with this then, Charlie? Are there clear signs telling people

01:07not to? Are there fences around crops?

01:10Well, yeah, it's a little bit difficult because like the paddock behind me is around about a

01:1470 to 80 hectare paddock. So having signs along that kind of hundreds and hundreds of metres

01:19a fence line is obviously quite difficult. A lot of them are engaged in like having to

01:25lock the gates, but a fence isn't really all that hard to get over. So, yeah, we're really

01:31relying on a publicity, particularly with the GPSA, the grain producers of South Australia

01:35in this state. They're doing a really good job of trying to get the message out there

01:39to, yeah, just sort of have people a little bit more respective with, yeah, private property.

01:44And how important is this year's crop of canola? Because it's been very dry there, hasn't it?

01:50It's been very dry. And indeed, like it's a really tough year for a lot of growers. So

01:55not only has it been dry, but commodity prices have been down. Wheat's down, barley's down,

02:00lentils are down. The only thing that's sort of holding a half decent price at the moment

02:03is actually canola. And even though it is quite dry and we're probably going to get, you know,

02:09below average yields with a price of, the tonnage price of canola being pretty good. Yeah,

02:16that's where a lot of farmers have, yeah, really relying on that crop to sort of get

02:20them through to another growing season. As well as biosecurity issues, I guess there

02:24are other hidden dangers for people, lots of snakes that people won't be able to see

02:29within the crop. Oh, yeah, absolutely, definitely. And that's the thing. It's not just, you know,

02:34like, you know, farmers grizzly and complaining and things like that. We don't want people

02:39coming onto our, you know, like jumping the fence and damaging themselves and putting

02:43themselves in harm's way. So something that I'm doing at the moment is I'm at this crop

02:47and I'm doing a grub inspection at the moment. I've got my sweep net here. So I'm about to

02:52go out and do a few sweeps to see if we have to put out an insecticide. And if somebody walks

02:56through while insecticide's being sprayed or not long after insecticide's being sprayed,

03:01not ideal to come in direct contact with the chemical, as well as that oodles of bees

03:06are out at the moment. So if you're allergic to bees and you're walking out there and you

03:10have an av that gets stung, then, you know, it's a pretty big crop and it's pretty tall.

03:14So good luck anyone finding you. Charlie Benson, very good to talk to you. Thank you.

03:19It's really easy. Thanks so much for that, Ros.

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