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Australian farmers dumping tons of citrus fruit due to labor shortages
May 27 , 2021
Hundreds of tons of Australian citrus fruit are reportedly being dumped due to labor shortages and a lack of demand at supermarkets.
Across Queensland s North Burnett region, the country s largest citrus supplier, entire paddocks of mandarins, lemons and grapefruits rot on the ground, deemed unsellable, 9News reports.
Citrus grower Bevan Young said a shortage of workers early on pushed harvest later into the season, creating an oversupply of fruit as Queensland growers are forced to compete with fruit from other regions.
He said it s likely he ll have to toss half his crop.
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.
Citrus canker plant disease gone from Australia after NT eradication
The early detection of citrus canker has been a big help to eradication efforts.
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Citrus canker has officially been eradicated from Australia, three years after the plant disease was discovered in the Northern Territory.
Key points:
The disease was first found in the NT in April 2018
6,000 citrus plants were destroyed in efforts to eradicate the disease
The bacterial disease causes brown spots to form on citrus fruit, leaves to drop and unripe fruit to fall on the ground, and is easily spread by infected fruit and leaves.