Australian farmers are spending $3.8 billion a year to control vertebrate pests and weeds and suffering production losses of 1.5 billion.
ABARES executive director Jared Greenville said the latest ABARES report, Cost of established pest animals and weeds to Australian agricultural producers, was an eye-opening reminder of the immense task of managing pests and weeds.
“Costs vary across industries and type of pest and weed, with NSW accounting for the largest share of estimated costs at 26 per cent, followed by Western Australia at 25 per cent, and Victoria and Queensland at each 17 per cent,” Dr Greenville said.
“Some farmers are able to manage and reduce damage from pest animals and weeds, but the cost of management is high and outright elimination is much harder.
“Despite their best efforts, agricultural producers still lose an estimated $1.5 billion a year in damage to crops and livestock.
“The biggest impact was from weeds, which contributed 82 per cent of the cost to farmers.
“Vertebrate pests still have a significant impact on farmers. Foxes, rabbits, feral pigs, wild dogs and goats collectively cost landholders $866 million every year.
“It also absorbs time and effort — around 72 per cent of the estimated cost is in the working hours devoted to managing pests and weeds.”
National Farmers’ Federation chief executive officer Tony Mahar said this extraordinary figure once again showed farmers were already doing the bulk of the heavy lifting in Australia’s biosecurity system.
“Australian farmers already directly carry the significant cost of biosecurity failures, both at the time of incursion and for years following. It forms a major component of their cost base and has a material impact on their businesses,” Mr Mahar said.
The ABARES report comes against the backdrop of the Federal Government’s Biosecurity Protection Levy, which the NFF says is being rushed into implementation by July 1 next year.
“The argument that the Biosecurity Protection Levy would see producers pay just a small fraction of additional costs completely overlooks these billions farmers already pay along the biosecurity continuum, in addition to other significant contributions they make to proactive biosecurity activities,” Mr Mahar said.
For more information on the ABARES report, go to: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/biosecurity/biosecurity-economics/cost-of-established-pest-animals-and-weeds-to-australian-agricultural-producers
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