Farmers call for support to manage invasive weed African lovegrass

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Battling bushfires can be hard enough over a hot, dry summer. But throw in an invasive weed that sparks up easily, and it gets even tougher. Landholders are calling for laws to change to give them the freedom to fight back against a form of lovegrass they've come to hate.

Transcript

00:00To the untrained eye, this is just another pasture in the snowy mountains.

00:07But look a little closer and you'll see an invasive weed called African lovegrass.

00:12It's choking out native grasses, rendering farmland unproductive.

00:17It's a big issue and the general feeling I get is it's just too hard.

00:22Ross Sherlock spends more than $100,000 a year spot spraying the weed.

00:27It's not sustainable. We're doing it but there's got to be another way or we'll just go broke.

00:33And the heat of summer has authorities even more worried.

00:36I heard comments like it burns like kerosene.

00:39African lovegrass catches fire more easily than other grasses.

00:43So you'll see a greater intensity, you'll see greater flame highs.

00:47But with African lovegrass, often you're sending more trucks than you would otherwise send.

00:51A local action group is calling for more support.

00:54Landholders probably have the best answers to how we can actually manage the continued conservation of our native grasslands.

01:02Many here would like to fight back by carrying out boom spraying or controlled burns.

01:07But those methods aren't permitted until the weed has taken over more than half the area.

01:13Some producers say this incentivises people to do nothing until the weed gets out of control.

01:18The state government says it is open to addressing these regulations.

01:22Ross and Liz Sherlock want the government to consider supporting individual farm management plans.

01:28But without that approval, enacting them remains illegal.

01:32The dilemma is do we go ahead, break the law and try and conserve some of our native grasslands?

01:38Or do we comply with the law and lose the lot?

01:42Just a lot.

01:43A weed that's weighing heavily on the land and minds of Monero farmers.

01:47BRYN WALKER

01:53DATUL TRAVEY

01:54DATULES

01:56DATULES

01:57DATULES

01:58DESIGN

02:00TREATURES

02:02DATULES

02:03PERMAL

02:04KALAL

02:05PROPERLESS

02:06OR RESPONSIBLE

02:07OUT

02:08PARMERS

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