South Central and West Gippsland
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0!24 /& 4(% &!2-%2 '2/50 252!, .%730!0%23 #/6%2).' 6)#4/2)! n #)2#5,!4)/. Published since 1986
JANUARY, 2014
486 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills, 3127
VFF CHALLENGE
BEEF WEEK FEATURE
FIRE AWARENESS
PAGE 7
PAGES 11 - 19
PAGES 27 - 31
Opium poppies spell hope for potato farms DEPI assesses prospects of a new commercial industry By DAVID PALMER
TIMELESS IMAGE: Owners of draught horses and associated implements and those who owned other old farm equip-
ment, gathered over a showery late November weekend at the historic Wandin farm of Mont de Lancey, to show how farms operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here Derek Kennedy, Stratford and Brian Pinches, Traralgon, prepare to encourage 20 year old Clydesdale Bazza through another plough run at Mont de Lancey. In the background Ray Mackey, Healesville, gives Blue and Harvey a rest from further cultivation. Mr Pinches owns the latter two.All tasks like haymaking and ploughing took much longer to complete and required much more labor. Normally large numbers of city people attend the annual event but showery weather kept the crowds down this time. More pictures from the event on page 4.
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„ Continued page 3
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S REDUCE SE OU GREENH SION IS GAS EM
TASMANIA will lose its stranglehold on growing opium poppies for legal narcotic drugs such as codeine and morphine, if trials of the valuable horticultural crop in the Ballarat area are a success. Thirteen trial sites across Victoria, involving three companies, mostly in the west, are being assessed by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries. The sites have been established away from roads under great secrecy for security reasons. In Tasmania, where 800 growers have 25,000ha under production, any motorist stopping to even look at a poppy crop is subject to farmer scrutiny and reporting. Currently an opium poppy
crop can only be grown in Tasmania by a farmer who has a contract with a manufacturing company and a licence from the Tasmanian government. Worldwide production is monitored by international agencies. Nationals MP for Western Victoria, David O’Brien, has welcomed the opium poppy trials in Victoria because they could lead to a lucrative new industry for the south-west, at a time when potato prices are being depressed by imports and processors writing down contracts. Last month Southern Farmer spoke to a truck owner who was preparing to haul 25 tonnes of potatoes more than 500km from the northern Riverina to a Ballarat processor.
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