Proposed lime imports an unacceptable biosecurity risk
Officers from the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment held a meeting in Mareeba today to discuss an import risk assessment that proposes to allow lime imports from Mexico.
The meeting was attended by more than 50 growers from the district who are planning to take their concerns to Queensland Agriculture Minister Keith Furner and Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.
Many growers shared their concerns that allowing imports of Mexican limes would impact profitability of their farms at a time when labour is difficult to access and when they were still recovering from impacts of the pandemic on the food services sector and the domestic market.