AgLife – September 30, 2020 edition

September 30, 2020

Season of promise Kaniva farmer Shane Vivian, with his wife Sammie and children, from left, Pippa, Eliza and Riley, is heading for a successful season.

Story, page 41 Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

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industry is constantly coming up with new technology and that creates work because everyone is striving to do their best – always looking for that next thing to grow that better crop or breed that better sheep.

“But that’s farming life and I wouldn’t change it.

“Kaniva is also a reasonably reliable farming area, suited for mixed-type cropping and sheep, which means it opens a few doors for everyone.”

BY DEAN LAWSON

romise of a successful harvest across much of the Wimmera this summer continues to gather momentum as burgeoning crops respond strongly to regular spring rain.

Farmers, many who have experienced a hit-and-miss environment in the past few seasons after a long dry, have welcomed a return to consistent moisture levels.

Kaniva district in the west Wimmera is an example of one farming area heading for a successful season, pending a continuation of favourable conditions.

Kaniva farmer Shane Vivian, who with his family runs a mixed cropping, livestock and trucking enterprise, said the season was going well.

“We had a great start before a bit of a scare with a dry July,” he said.

“But rain in August and now September has been kind to us.

“The weather forecast throughout spring has always been positive, but getting a wet spring for a change is something we’re not used to.

“Really our only concern is that if we have wet weather it isn’t that good for our hay. But, we can’t have both and the truth is we’d rather have a good cropping season.

“Conditions for our livestock has also been handy and while some pric-

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Border issues

REASON TO SMILE: Pippa, 8, Eliza, 11, and Riley Vivian, 13, in a canola crop on their family farm at Kaniva.

Picture: PAUL CARRACHER es might have taken a hit, especially with wool, the position is generally good.”

The farm business, Vivian Grain, covers between 7000 and 8000 hectares and is a prime example of a family farming operation.

Mr Vivian and his wife Sammie and their three children, his brother

Tyson and his wife Carin, also with three children, and his parents Peter and Sharon, are all part of the farm business.

Vivian Grain also employs three full-time staff members.

Mr Vivian agreed that farming, despite coming with years of uncertainty and drought, provided a healthy life-

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style and environment. “To be able to bring up kids in farming is great,” he said.

“We all know that when work is there to be done it has to be done, but there are advantages in being your own boss and having the flexibility to enjoy other parts of life.

“Farming life is getting busier. The

Mr Vivian said the Victorian and South Australian border situation due to COVID-19 had created complications for people living and working in the area.

“We don’t have property in South Australia, but some do and they had trouble at the start,” he said.

“It has taken a lot of work to get that all through.

“We do get a lot of parts and buy machinery out of Bordertown, but that can always be freighted across.

“I also picked up sheep from South Australia and as long as I had a COVID test and paperwork with a freight permit I was fine.

“As far as our business goes, it hasn’t affected us too much.

“But from a personal side, our kids normally go to Adelaide for medical appointments, which has made it hard.”

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Virtual show ‘goes on’ A

BY DYLAN DE JONG

lthough the Wimmera-Mallee’s annual agricultural show season has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Horsham organisation creatively ensured at least one show ‘would go on’.

More than 10,000 people tuned into a virtual rendition of the 142nd Grand Annual Horsham Show on Sunday.

Due to restrictions on large gatherings, usual attractions such as sideshow alley, a farmers pavilion and live entertainment were off the cards this year.

But Horsham Agricultural Society leaders and volunteers pushed on, determined to provide an alternative solution to the long-running event.

Society executive administrator Andrea Cross, with the help of Horsham youth Bart Turgoose, kept a virtual crowd entertained with up to 150 posts on Facebook throughout the day.

“It’s just been overwhelming to say the least – the support behind this event has been quite incredible,” Mrs Cross said.

“Our main objective is to keep the community connected. I feel after this experience, there’s certainly a space for virtual agricultural shows.”

Entertainment included announcements of competition winners, a 20-minute performance from Wimmera musicians and a virtual fireworks display.

Agriculture minister Jaclyn Symes opened the day, acknowledging the ‘determination’

BEST MATE: Horsham resident Natalie Bolwell, right, was a winning entry for a ‘My Favourite Pet’ photo competition for the virtual Horsham Show. Sonny Greig, pictured feeding his chooks, was among other entrants. of the show society to persevere with Victoria’s first virtual show.

Mrs Cross even shared a throwback video of footage from Horsham’s 100th annual show, filmed in 1978.

“It was the main feature of the night. The video reached about 6000 people,” she said.

Mrs Cross said society leaders started planning for the event back in April in an effort to retain a ‘cornerstone’ of rural life.

“We’re really proud of our effort. We didn’t know what we were doing back in April, but it’s just been about learning as we go,” she said.

Mrs Cross said although the online event

was over, she planned to build on it. “We don’t know what’s ahead of us. We’ve had actual shows and now a virtual show – it will be about combining the two,” she said.

“As part of this process, there was a whole generation of new entrants into our competitions.”

Show competitions will now extend across the region as part of Wimmera Agricultural Societies Association #beatthis campaign.

The campaign will involve 16 competitions, with entrants encouraged to beat Horsham Show winners.

Winners will be announced each business day until October 25.

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A new report from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has revealed the opportunities for key industries including agribusiness and food production to leverage science and technology and help restore economic growth and resilience.

The COVID-19: Recovery and Resilience report highlights the trends and national advantages COVID-19 has created, and how six Australian industries can capitalise on them over the next six to 24 months and beyond.

CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said science and technology created economic growth and opportunity for all Australians.

“At this pivotal time in our history, the inclination is to batten down the hatches and postpone investments, when actually we need to double down on Australian innovation. Science and technology can drive our recovery from this pandemic-led recession and land us back in a much stronger position,” he said.

“COVID-19 has disrupted every element of our lives,

and while the devastating loss of life can’t be understated, we have an opportunity to determine the new kind of Australia we want to emerge from this crisis.

“Just as science and technology have been guiding our health and emergency response, so too will they drive our economic response and recovery from this pandemic.”

Apart from agriculture, the report highlights job creation and investment opportunities in energy, mineral resources, manufacturing and digital industries.

The report lists production of ‘alternative protein sources’, ‘high-value health and wellbeing food products’ and ‘smarter value chains’ as key opportunities in the next six to 24 months.

Australian Plant Proteins will start shipping pulse-protein powder from its Horsham headquarters next week.

The report consolidates key findings from CSIRO’s industry roadmaps and the Australian National Outlook.

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griculture Victoria in Horsham is in the trial stages of developing an Australian-first method to improve plant-virus detection.

At the conclusion of this research project, Horsham’s Grains Innovation Park will be the first facility in Australia to apply high throughput genome sequencing methods for Post Entry Quarantine, PEQ, for grain.

Since 2018, Agriculture Victoria research scientist Solomon Maina has been working towards developing this method to screen grain for exotic viruses that threaten Australian biosecurity.

Dr Maina said the project aimed to apply new methodology to prevent the entry of new pathogens that might cause significant damage and economic losses to the Australian grains industry if they became established, and possibly went undetected using traditional testing.

“The new methods would enable researchers to detect multiple viruses which have high genetic variability genome structures at once, with no prior information of the pathogen,” he said.

“In comparison with traditional methods, for example, the current use of antibodies which is limited to antisera availability might not detect viruses with high genome variations.

“Plus, the researcher would need to initially suspect an infection in order to test for a specific virus in a crop.”

Expectations are that a PEQ facility

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MILESTONE: Agriculture Victoria research scientist Solomon Maina works towards an Australian-first method to improve plant-virus detection. in Horsham will adopt the methods.

Similar frameworks are already in place on different crops in the United States and parts of Europe as part of geneticcertification programs.

However, Australia is leading the framework for grain.

Plant viruses and diseases are a major cause of agricultural crop losses and can have a substantial economic impact.

They can weaken the growth of cultivated crops, cause yield loss and reduce the quality, marketability and competitiveness of grain products.

In Australia, estimations are that cereals, oilseeds and pulses account for more than $1-billion gross value of farm production, with the majority being exported.

The preliminary results at Grains Innovation Park have proved promising,

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revealing simultaneous detection of multiple exotic and endemic viruses of pulses currently available at Horsham PEQ. Further studies are underway to improve and strengthen the methods.

Grains Research and Development Corporation and Agriculture Victoria are co-investors in the project.

Fuel security plan welcome Victorian Farmers Federation has welcomed the Federal Government’s $211-million investment into Australia’s fuel security.

The federation’s grains group president Ashley Fraser said the decision would help secure the essential fuel needed to keep Victoria’s agriculture industry moving.

He said ensuring farmers and industry had access to a secure and affordable supply of fuel was critical for today’s modern agriculture industry.

“Half of Victoria’s exports come from the agriculture industry and a huge part of that is from our grain growers,” he said.

“Everything from sowing crops to transporting food and fibre to market relies on a steady, affordable supply of fuel.

“Recent events have highlighted just how important our critical supply chains are and this investment will help ensure agriculture can continue to feed the nation.

“You can’t just switch agriculture on and off. Farmers have only a short window of time to harvest their crops and maintaining a reliable source of fuel is vital.”

The VFF is lobbying for farmers to be included as essential users as a change to the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act 1984.

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New Horsham product hits market 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

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Horsham company designing and constructing plant and equipment for the mining, earthmoving and agricultural industries has produced a new mobile cement-batching system.

Tecfitmac has released its new Multi Plant, designed for large works requiring on-site manufacturing of concrete.

Tecfitmac fabricator and mechanical and hydraulic engineer Lee Hutchinson said a group of Hopetoun farmers approached him earlier this year to manufacture a relocatable batching plant primarily for cement batching.

“These farmers are big producers of both hay and grain,” he said.

“In recent years, the number of hay sheds and silos going up in the grain-growing areas has been enormous.

“Concreting for hay sheds and silo pads becomes quite expensive when you add the cost of paying for concrete to come from service towns that might be up to 50 kilometres away.

“The Multi Plant means concrete can be made on site without the added costs of paying all that freight for concrete across large distances.”

Mr Hutchinson, who has 29 years of experience behind him, said a loader fed the Multi Plant stone, sand and cement and the material was then transferred into an agitator via the Multi Plant’s belt elevator.

“It was a seamless process and certainly met their requirements of being simple and efficient while saving a considerable sum of money”

DELIVERY: Lee Hutchinson and Bridie Scollary deliver a Tecfitmac mobile concrete agitator to customer Steve Hallam. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Water is added at the end of the elevator. After mixing by the agitator, the concrete is then ready to pour in the usual manner.

“These farmers have been backloading grain deliveries to port with stone and concreting supplies. Backloading creates efficiencies with both grain deliveries and, importantly, reduces costs of concreting on farm,” Mr Hutchinson said.

He said a key benefit of the Multi

Plant was its capacity to manufacture concrete quickly and easily on site.

“The Multi Plant has a large-capacity hopper and a high-output elevator.

All you need is a front-end loader, concrete ingredients and an agitator for the mixing of the concrete,” he said.

Mr Hutchinson said another benefit was that the Multi Plant was light and easily transportable.

“These farmers won’t have a prob-

lem at all with sharing the Multi Plant between multiple locations,” he said.

“On farm, a bonus of the Multi Plant is that it can also be used for outloading of bunkers and storages and loading of containers.”

Mr Hutchinson said his initial focus was on manufacturing a cement-batching plant for farmers in remote locations.

“At the start of this job, my key focus was servicing farmers in the

– Lee Hutchinson

Mallee and beyond. I’ve worked with these farmers for years and have seen first-hand the added freight expenses they have for getting supplies to and from their farms,” he said.

But Mr Hutchinson now concedes the Mutli Plant would suit businesses other than just farmers.

“The Multi Plant would also suit concrete businesses with large services areas, or any business that requires large quantities of concrete on site without the need for transportation,” he said.

The Multi Plant’s first job involved laying a cement pad for a community project at Hopetoun.

“The farmers were really happy with the job; the Multi Plant worked even better than expected,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“It was a seamless process and certainly met their requirements of being simple and efficient while saving a considerable sum of money.

“From my perspective, I was so pleased to see all my hard work and attention to detail pay off.”

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Control a must before plant goes to seed 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

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group dedicated to fighting serrated tussock has stressed that now is the ideal time for farmers to check properties for the noxious weed.

Victorian Serrated Tussock Party chairperson Lance Jennison said rain and a warm start to spring in some parts of Victoria had been good for pastures and crops, but unfortunately, also good for the growth of serrated tussock.

He said controlling serrated tussock before the plant went to seed was critical to prevent further spread, lost productivity and increased control requirements.

“Before seeding, serrated tussock has a lime-green appearance. When seeding the flowerheads have a distinctive purple colour developing as the seeds ripen in late spring and early summer. These features help serrated tussock stand out from the native tussock grasses,” he said.

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The working party has developed an online video and information sheet to help landowners identify the unwanted grass, at www.serratedtussock. com/how-identify-serrated-tussock “Serrated tussock has a fine leaf and will roll smoothly between the index finger and thumb, while native tussocks feel as though they have flat edges,” Mr Jennison said.

“The leaves also feel rough when you run your fingers downwards due to fine serrations.

“A mature serrated tussock plant can produce thousands of seeds in a season, blowing up to 20 kilometres from the parent plant.”

Farmers can control serrated tussock plants before they flower and seed with a registered herbicide, manual removal or cultivation.

“Having a healthy pasture and competitive ground cover is one of the most important aspects to weed management,” Mr Jennison said.

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of a weed that does not like competition and well-established pastures.”

Mr Jennison said it was best to control serrated tussock before it got out of control.

“Case studies on the economic costs of not treating serrated tussock showed that if serrated tussock was left to infest a property or landscape, the cost of controlling it would be at least five times higher than if it was prevented in the first instance,” he said.

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Market on the mend in September 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

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“Times have been rather uncertain with COVID-19 as abattoirs haven’t been able to be fully staffed due to the pandemic, but things are starting to look pretty positive now”

BY DYLAN DE JONG

ollowing months of uncertainty in the sheep market due to COVID-19, Wimmera prime producers are starting to see an upward trend in lamb prices.

A Rural Bank report from early September showed demand uncertainty was expected to continue to provide headwinds for lamb and mutton prices.

The market was already under pressure from lowered consumer demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on food-service outlets.

That was further impacted by reduced demand at saleyards due to a fall in buying power from Victorian meat processors operating within COVID-19 restrictions.

However, producers such as Moyston sheep farmer David Jackson, have seen promising signs of the market firming up in recent weeks.

The Jackson family has a mixed farming operation, running sheep alongside cattle, cereal and canola crops and hay.

Mr Jackson said his lambs were fetching about $7 a kilogram at the Ballarat saleyards.

“The market has been performing pretty well – it’s risen quite a bit in the past few weeks,” he said.

“Times have been rather uncertain with COVID-19 as abattoirs haven’t been able to be fully staffed due to the pandemic, but things are starting to look pretty positive now.

“Hopefully as more abattoir workers get back to work, there will continue to be good demand through the spring.”

The Australian sheep industry is approaching a ‘critical’ time of year when the spring flush of new lambs is starting to come into markets and supply is rising.

“Spring flush is starting, and selling is slowly getting underway,” Mr Jackson said.

“There will be quite a few lambs to absorb.

Quite a few people have had good lambing because it’s been a good season and a mild winter, so there will likely be a lot of lambs in the market from now on.”

Mr Jackson said favourable weather bolstered his lambing season.

“We’ve had a good lambing percentage this season and with quite a few lambs born and we’ll be taking them to the market in the next few weeks straight off their mothers,” he said.

“We had a pretty mild winter with not a lot of rain, but it’s really started to pick up during spring.”

Mr Jackson said he was grateful the sheep market was improving to counteract a major downturn in wool prices – another key component of his sheep operation.

Rural Bank’s September report says wool

– David Jackson

The Weekly Advertiser

@theweeklyaddy

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SHORING UP: Moyston sheep farmer David Jackson is pleased his lambs are fetching higher prices following months of market uncertainty. prices have fallen to levels ‘not seen in several years’, increasing friction between buyers and sellers.

“The wool prices are not good, but we’ve got to wear it. Hopefully it’s just a hiccup rather than a long-term trend,” Mr Jackson said.

Prices rise

Last week’s Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange weekly sheep and lamb market saw prices increase.

On-site manager Paul Christopher said heavy new season lambs made a top of $230 a head, with medium and heavy trade weights selling at $190 and averaging 715 cents a kilogram.

“That’s fantastic, prices are definitely up,” he said.

“The sale now, compared with the way it’s been the past couple of weeks, is nearly comparable to prices this time last year.

“When COVID-19 hit, the processors didn’t know if they could export their products and the price stagnated for a while, but prices are fairly buoyant at the moment.”

Horsham’s weekly markets saw 7189 lambs and 3156 sheep hit the saleyards.

Mr Christopher said he expected the market to be flooded with new lambs in the coming weeks.

“With the spring flush, hopefully our numbers will pick up,” he said.

“We’d hope we’re getting up to 17,000 to 18,000 in the coming few weeks.”

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95 Nelson Street, Nhill

WARNING: Luke Kane has convinced his daughter Heidi to wear gumboots on the family property after she was bitten by a snake.

Picture: LULU KANE CALL 03 5391 2106

Snake warning W

“She had felt a bit of pain after returning from the boundary fence area and she said, ‘Dad, I think something has bitten me’. I looked at her leg and saw the bite marks then went straight into first-aid mode”

immera Health Care Group has warned the community to watch out for snakes after an 11-year-old-girl suffered a snake bite at a Grampians farm.

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Heidi Kane was spending Monday afternoon playing with friends on her father’s Illawarra property when a snake bit her on the leg.

An ambulance rushed her to Horsham’s Emergency Department and she was later discharged.

Heidi’s father Luke Kane said snakes were prevalent on their property.

“I see snakes all the time and they are always either tiger or brown snakes,” he said.

“I’m a keen cyclist and almost every time I go for a ride, I see them. There are lots of baby snakes along our driveway at the moment.”

Mr Kane said he was working in the shed when Heidi came back from climbing trees with her friends.

“She had felt a bit of pain after returning from the boundary fence area and she said, ‘Dad, I think something has bitten me’.

“I looked at her leg and saw the bite marks then went straight into first-aid mode.

“We live on the edge of a state park about six kilometres from Stawell so the ambulance was here in 10 minutes and by then I had already taped up the wound. Within 45 minutes of her being bitten, we were in the Emergency Department at Horsham.”

Mr Kane was high in his praise of both the ambulance crew and the health-service team.

“The emergency staff and all the nurses were very attentive to both myself and Heidi from the moment we arrived,” he said.

“I really appreciated that the doctors were

– Luke Kane

upfront, open and communicative about Heidi’s condition and the bedside manner was lovely and caring for little Heidi.”

Medical staff told Heidi the snake had only injected a very small amount of venom so she would not require any antivenin.

They kept her under observation before discharging her later that evening.

Mr Kane said he had often promoted to anyone visiting his property that it was more important to wear gumboots in summer.

“I like snakes but you have to be respectful of them and wearing boots is a good safety measure,” he said.

Health group emergency nurse unit manager Odette Richards warned the community to be wary of snakes.

“We’ve already had several presentations for snake bite at ED so people need to be vigilant,” she said.

Ms Richards said a pressure bandage with immobilisation was recommended first-aid for a potential snake bite.

“Bandaging should start at the bite site and cover the entire limb, but it is also important to ring triple zero as soon as possible,” she said.

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entil growers will have a new variety option in 2021 with the commercial release of PBA Kelpie XT – Agriculture Victoria’s first large-sized herbicide-tolerant red lentil variety.

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Agriculture Victoria research scientist Dr Arun Shunmugam said PBA Kelpie XT was the result of 12 years of research by Agriculture Victoria’s pulse-breeding team at Grains Innovation Park in Horsham.

“PBA Kelpie XT is a high-yielding, large market-class red-lentil variety, boasting a six to 29 percent long-term yield advantage over PBA Hurricane XT,” he said.

“It is an early to mid-flowering and maturity variety with provisional, disease ratings of moderately resistant-moderately susceptible to ascochyta and resistant-moderately resistant to BGM.” Victoria’s lentil industry contributes $120-million to the state’s economy each year, with 95 percent of lentils grown in Victoria exported to countries around the world, including Bangladesh and India.

Seednet will market and manage PBA Kelpie XT and produce the variety in commercial quantities for lentil growers.

The lentil adapts to most lentil-growing regions in Australia and its herbicide tolerance will help farmers manage weeds efficiently.

Developed by conventional plant-breeding techniques, PBA Kelpie XT is the fifth herbicide-tolerant lentil variety bred by Agriculture Victoria scientists.

Scientist developed it under the Pulse Breeding Australia program and the suffix XT – for

Dr Arun Shunmugam extra tough – denotes its tolerance to group B herbicides.

Dr Shunmugam said it was bred with selections developed from a cross between PBA Blitz and an experimental line and it featured a large grey seed coat with red cotyledon.

He said it would also be suitable for export and domestic markets.

Agriculture Victoria’s lentil-breeding program and Southern Pulse Agronomy team has support from the State Government and Grains Research and Development Corporation. People can visit seednet.com.au/product/pba-kelpie-xt for more information about PBA Kelpie XT.

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One door closes...

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will be the first to admit that I think United States President Donald Trump is… I think you get where I am heading.

I also think he has a lot to answer for with ruining relations with China, which has also tainted our relations with our largest trading partner.

But can we turn that on its head and find yet again, a case of opportunity from adversity?

According to professional ‘Asia watcher’ James Crabtree, who is an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, other Asian countries welcome Trump’s tough stance on China.

Countries such as Japan, Korea and even India are reportedly concerned that a Joe Biden presidency might see a return to a weak stand on China, as was the case with the Obama administration.

If nothing else, China’s absurd 80 percent tariff on barley has forced a rethink in the grain industry.

GrainGrowers group is now going cap in hand to the Morrison government with a plan to set up a $20million recovery fund for Australia’s barley industry. It estimates China’s stand will cost us $2.5-billion over five years.

Quambatook farmer and GrainGrowers chair Brett Hosking explained to Country Today that the fund would focus on three areas: • Improving relations with China.

• Diversifying into other barley markets.

• Value adding to barley in Australia.

“The real opportunity that we see is to be able to do that development work and maybe one day when China does come back looking for our grain, we know one thing for sure they do love our barley, and we know once the tariffs are gone, well, maybe they’ll have to fight a little bit harder to get us out of the grip of some of these other markets we’ve been

95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

Country Today with Libby Price

able to develop in the meantime,” Mr Hosking said.

So where is the greatest potential? Japan has now become our largest importer of malt barley.

Vietnam pre-COVID-19 had a booming economy and was showing great interest, and never, ever underestimate Indonesia, which has a population 10 times our own.

And that’s just the beginning, according to Mr Hosking.

“We can cast our eyes even further around the globe. We look at countries like in South America and into Africa – they’ve got really booming malting-beer brewing industries and a huge appetite for malt,” he said.

Finally, step three. China is the largest importer of barley and is also the largest exporter of the malt.

“We’re coming out of COVID and looking for opportunities to create jobs for Australians,” Mr Hosking said.

“It would be really great to build on and enhance those domestic capacities. And you know what?

We’ve got a bit of an opportunity there being close to those Asian regions to be able to develop some of those export malt markets for ourselves.”

So, now we just have to wait for the Federal Budget next month to find out if the government will come to the aid of our badly beaten but still breathing barley market.

WORK EXPERIENCE: Horsham’s Tex Askew takes a break from moving sheep at his uncle’s property at Brimpaen. Tex, 7, has been keeping busy during his school holidays, learning the ropes in and out of the wool shed during the busy shearing period. “My favourite part is picking up the bellies,” Tex said. “I love going to the farm because there’s always something fun to do.” Picture: SARAH MATTHEWS

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‘Minor’ success navigating border 95 Nelson Street, Nhill CALL 03 5391 2106

BY DYLAN DE JONG

W

immera contract harvesters are just days away from heading north for harvest as they continue to navigate complex border-crossing policies.

Victorian agricultural workers needing to cross borders are having more success meeting requirements to cross into New South Wales compared with recent weeks.

Horsham’s Hoffmann Contracting co-business owners Scott Hoffmann and Andrew Lamont are planning to make the most of ‘favourable seasons’ in NSW and Queensland.

The business partners were successful in transporting a suite of combine harvesters up to Moree in northern NSW and into central Queensland in preparation for harvest.

However, the pair still needs to adhere to ‘tricky’ border-crossing measures to gain access to NSW, where they plan to be before October 10.

Under restrictions, the Horsham contractors cannot enter Queensland, but have organised for farmers in the state to drive their header.

Both Mr Hoffmann and Mr Lamont have met requirements to enter NSW and will be given a short period to do so. But once they enter, they must quarantine for 14 days and cannot re-enter South Australia if they cross back into Victoria.

ON THE MOVE: Contract harvesters Scott Hoffmann, left, and Andrew Lamont are planning to make their way up to New South Wales in coming days.

“We’ve got a permit that will be activated at the end of next week and we’ve got between five and seven days to get a across the border. But it’s a one-time activation permit, so once we’ve gone across, we can’t come back until we finish the job,” Mr Lamont said.

He said this would make it challenging to see his family while he was away, for at least five weeks.

“I’ve got a family and young kids, so I won’t be able to come home and link back up, that’s one of the main downfalls,” he said.

Mr Lamont said the border measures were likely to cause major concerns for his business partner, who had his own crops in the ground at Haven.

“Scott can’t come over and back, he has a farm here as well and he’s got to do hay and desiccate lentils – once he’s used the activation to get across once, he can’t get it again.

“It’s impacting our business majorly – but at least it’s still allowing us to work.”

Once the contract harvesters have completed their work over the border, they will face issues bringing their

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equipment home, requiring several trips.

Mr Lamont, who relies on contract harvesting for his main source of income, said it was crucial for him to ‘get up north this season’.

He said he was grateful to receive help from Agriculture Victoria.

“Heather Drendel from Agriculture Victoria has pretty much helped us through this whole thing, which has been a massive help,” he said.

“We have machinery and we want to use it as much as we can – if you take away five or six weeks of income

we don’t get, that’s a massive hit to us.” NSW winter crop production is forecast to rise to 14.8-million tonnes in 2020–21, 49 percent above the 10-year average to 2019–20 and the largest winter crop since 2016–17.

Similarly, Queensland’s production is forecast to be at its highest since 2016-17 at about 1.7-million tonnes.

Victorian Famers Federation president David Jochinke said he would continue to advocate for Queensland to join a national agriculture workers code introduced in late August.

“The biggest frustration is getting Queensland on board. Those farmers haven’t had a good season in a long time,” he said.

“With not allowing these workers to enter, after years of hardship the last thing we want to do is put more distress on farmers by taking away the tools they need to get the harvest off.”

Mr Jochinke said the restrictions placed on Victorian agriculture workers was ‘unreasonable’ as most workers could typically work under ‘COVID-safe’ conditions.

“This can be solved quite easily by just using some common sense,” he said.

“We generally operate in isolation.

We’re usually in a machine by ourselves and there’s a lot of ways we can adopt best COVID-safe practices to reduce any risk.”

Dimboola

Horsham

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HORSHAM ... NOW OPEN KANIVA ... Thursday fortnightly NHILL ... Every Friday Jamie............................ 0417 119 216 Brett.............................. 0417 344 182 Page

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Wednesday, September 30, 2020