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Feature farm
Call to
fire up
red ant
action
AUASTRALIA’S peak farming body is calling for a united
approach to tackle one of the
country’s most desctrictioe
invasive species.
The National Farmers Federation is calling on the Federal,
state and territory governments
to urgently ramp up the war on
Red Imported Fire Ants which
have the potential to slash agricultural output by upwards of
40 per cent
A Senate Inquiry report into
Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia urged governments work
together and commit to uninterrupted funding to escalate the
昀椀ght to eradicate this destructive
invasive species.
The NFF has long stated there
needs to be urgent and comprehensive action to wipe out RIFA
from Australia.
NFF president David
Jochinke said farmers in New
South Wales and Queensland
had already seen the destructive
pest escape containment zones,
and action needs to be ramped
up to stop them in their tracks.
“Action to eradicate this invasive species should have been
completed decades ago,” Mr
Jochinke said.
“Today we’ve learnt RIFA
have spread to Oakey, dangerously close to the Murray Darling Basin. We cannot let this
become a national problem, our
governments must not stall for
a second longer.”
Mr Jochinke said the 昀椀re ants
are a signi昀椀cant national biodiversity threat to Australian agriculture, farming families, and
human health.
“Should this nasty pest continue to spread across Australia, this will have detrimental
impacts on farm productivity, production viability, and
on-farm income,” he said.
“Recommendations for sustainable and suf昀椀cient funding
are critical to maintain momentum, the stop-start process of
awaiting decisions from treasuries needs to end.”
The NFF also supports recommendations for greater
transparency and for the new
昀椀ve-year 2023-2027 Response
Plan be made public as soon as
possible.
“National eradication must
underpin the focus and action
in this 昀椀ght,” he said.
Pear grower sticks
BRONWYN LISSON
THIS year’s pear harvest is coming
to a close for fourth-generation
grower Scott Hansen, of Tasman
Peninsula Pears.
Mr Hansen’s great-grandfather
founded the farm 135 years ago
at Highcroft where it still runs
today and their second location in
Nubeena which has been running
since 1945.
The orchards span 25ha where the
family grows a variety of pears such
as Packham, Bosc, Josephine and
Winter Cole.
Mr Hansen says they used to grow
a lot more varieties but now half of
the crop is Packhams.
“About 75 per cent of all the pears
grown in Australia are Packhams
and we’re moving in that direction
ourselves now that is one of the only
varieties making any money these
days,” Mr Hansen said.
Despite this, the Hansens have
persisted with growing other
varieties of pears to maintain their
diversity. They supply varieties like
the Winter Cole that were delisted
by Woolworths to Tasmanian
independent supermarkets Hill
Street Grocer and Salamanca Fresh.
Today, Mr Hansen grows pear
lines that no one else in the country
grows including the French variety
Doyenné du Comice which is his
favourite.
“Tasmania is the only state that
sells the Comice and with my
persistence plus the support of the
Tasmanian buyer, Woolworths has
kept them in,” Mr Hansen said.
During the harvesting season,
Tasman Peninsula Pears have about
22 people helping to pack and pick
about 40 bins of pears per day which
go into their large cold storage area
that makes up half of their shed.
After Easter they 昀椀nished off this
year’s harvest and got the last few
varieties picked and then they’ll
pack for three days a week before
moving onto pruning at the end of
May.
This harvest, Mr Hansen says the
quality of the fruit has been great.
“Packham numbers are at record
My father used
levels and we’re at 42 per cent more
to say that good
than last year,” he said.
This year’s drier conditions
farmers are the
have meant the orchard has been
original enviirrigating more than usual and later
ronmentalists,
into the season.
“A tree crop such as pears really
especially family
needs rain to 昀椀nish things off, nature
farmers
does the best job, but our irrigation
network is very well established
SCOTT HANSEN
so apart from the level of stress
we’ve had on the diminishing water
supply, we’ve been okay,” Mr
Hansen said.
After coming out of two wet seasons where the
“It’s never the perfect situation so generally
industry was subject to lots of fungal pressure,
speaking we’re happy with where we are. We
Mr Hansen discussed how farmers this year are
haven’t run out of water, we’re still irrigating, the experiencing a new extreme with no rain since
trees are still green and there’s still green grass
January.
underneath the trees.”
The lack of rain hasn’t affected their pear
10 TASMANIAN COUNTRY Friday, April 26, 2024
‘
numbers, but Mr Hansen said that more rain
would have made a big difference and made the
pears a lot bigger.
At the orchard, the Hansens are using less
chemicals than they ever have and as a result,
have had fewer fungal and insect problems.