New South Wales has briefly banned the import of hay from elements of south-east Queensland as a precaution in opposition to invasive hearth ants, that are on the transfer in massive numbers due to flooding from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
However the Invasive Species Council stated the transfer is a Band-Assist response and accused the Queensland, NSW and federal governments of dropping the ball in suppressing hearth ant numbers inside infested areas.
On Friday, the NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, introduced a one-month moratorium on the group biosecurity emergency allow, which allowed hay to be imported to NSW from lower-risk areas throughout the hearth ant biosecurity zone. It adopted the discharge of video by the Invasive Species Council displaying a number of massive hearth ant colonies forming “rafts” to drift in flood waters throughout the Logan River catchment.
Moriarty stated farmers in northern NSW have been already affected by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. “They need our support to get them back on their feet and don’t want a fire ant incursion adding stress and strain to their recovery,” she stated.
“We have increased surveillance focusing on high-risk areas and are employing advanced tracking and modelling techniques, taking strong preventive measures to stop fire ants.”
Jack Gough, the interim CEO of the Invasive Species Council, stated the moratorium was a “kneejerk reaction” to the inadequacy of the nationwide hearth ant eradication program to suppress numbers throughout the hearth ant biosecurity zone, which incorporates better Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich and the Gold Coast. The plan focuses on eradicating hearth ant nests from a containment line across the space, after which marching that line inward till all the hearth ants are gone. That effort, says Gough, is the place “100% of the money is being spent”.
A Senate inquiry final yr highlighted the failure of this system to additionally cut back hearth ant numbers throughout the affected are.
“If the density is high, the risk of movement is going to be high,” Gough stated.
Since December 2023, 390 motion declarations have been made for six,500 tonnes of hay trucked from Queensland into NSW, the NSW Division of Main Industries stated.
Tim Ford, the managing director of hay and fodder market Feed Central, stated the moratorium was a precaution and that no hearth ants have ever been present in deliveries of hay.
“Is it an overreaction? Probably,” he stated.
“The fire ants are on the move because of the floods; they have not had time to establish and would need to make their way from the flooded area to the hay shed. There’s so many protections in place to ensure that the fire ants don’t tunnel through hay. It [the moratorium’] would seem a little bit over-zealous at the moment.
“There’s no incidents where fire ants have been found in hay. It’s 100% precautionary.”
Hay is primarily grown within the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, elements of that are throughout the hearth ant biosecurity zone, and bought each to different elements of the state and into northern NSW and, relying on the hay kind, down so far as Sydney.
Ford stated each growers and patrons in Queensland have been effectively conscious of the danger and managed it by correct shedding and monitoring.
“The growers that are growing hay in fire ant regions are very much on top of it,” he stated.
“The last thing the fodder industry would ever want is for fire ants to be found in hay.”
South Australia and western Victoria are experiencing what the Bureau of Meteorology has described as a extreme rainfall deficiency, with little pasture left in paddocks and spiking native hay costs.
Each states have biosecurity preparations in place relating to the import of plant materials – together with hay and fodder – from inside hearth ant biosecurity zones.
Ford stated that even in durations of dryness or drought, it hardly ever makes financial sense to truck hay from Queensland that far south.
“Victoria produces 80% of the 10m tonnes of hay grown in Australia each year,” he stated. “There’s still hay production in Victoria.”
Most of that hay is produced on irrigated river flats in northern Victoria.
The exception is area of interest merchandise akin to Rhodes hay, a low-sugar hay which is usually fed to horses and ponies with insulin resistance. Patrons of Rhodes hay ought to test its windfall to see if it’s from a fireplace ant exclusion zone, Ford stated.
