Page 7 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Will your business survive a disease outbreak?
Rewarding biodiversity on farm
☛ from P6
• Animals may be de-
stroyed and disposed of.
• Feral animals may need to be controlled and
destroyed.
• Infected premises,
equipment and vehicles will need to be decon- taminated. This will take time, along with a period of lay to ensure the dis- ease is not present. Before pigs can re-enter a site, sentinels will be intro- duced followed by sen- tinels with a percentage of the herd but not full capacity to attain confi- dence that the disease has been eradicated. This pro- cess may take months.
• Media and public scru- tiny will be intense, with criticism of anything that negatively impacts em- ployees, animal welfare or even feral animals. Reputations of businesses and the industry may be threatened by both fact and fiction.
• Export markets will recover with time. Dis- ease eradication must be followed by disease sur- veillance, however, even then, it may take years for trade volumes to recover.
You have a legal obliga- tion to report disease and the earlier a disease is de- tected, the quicker it can be controlled, stamped outandwecanseeare- turn to normal operations.
This will also reduce the economic impact.
The graph in Figure 1 (previous page) of the UK
FMD outbreaks (supplied by CSIRO on behalf of the FMD Ready Rural R&D for Profit Project and its Funding Partners, includ- ing APL) shows that by moving the impact to- wards the left-hand side of the graph, return to trade from the initial outbreak can be reduced.
Unfortunately, APL’s re- sponse to producers is “it all depends”.
Governments, industry and other stakeholders will attend an ASF summit in Adelaide in early May to share preparedness plans and collectively identify gaps that need closing.
Producers can help by being prepared:
• Review your bio- security plan in conjunc- tion with your veterinar- ian;
• Strengthen biosecurity on your piggery site(s); and
• Undertake risk man- agement planning for your business.
The ‘Preparing Your Business to Survive’ book contains useful informa- tion and checklists and can be downloaded at the Animal Health Australia website (animalhealthaus tralia.com.au/what-we- do/biosecurity-services/ biosecurity-planning-and- implementation).
And finally, if you sus- pect the health of your pigs is amiss, do not hesi- tate to contact your vet or ring the EAD hotline on 1800 675 888.
MINISTER for Agricul- ture David Littleproud has announced new programs that would see farmers receive in- centives for a range of projects to improve bio- diversity on farms, in- corporating payment for carbon if appropriate.
A $30 million pilot Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Program would see farmers re- ceive incentives for pro- jects that boost biodiver- sity and also, if appro- priate, absorb carbon.
Projects such as main- taining or enhancing remnant forest, regen- eration of gullies or wa- terways, or mixed spe- cies native tree plantings could be examples of projects.
Additionally, $4 mil- lion will go towards cre- ating a national and in- ternationally recognised biodiversity certification scheme to help biodi- versity-friendly farmers get an extra premium for their product at the checkout and when they trade with other coun- tries.
The National Farmers’ Federation will help de- velop this certification scheme so farm groups have ownership of and invest in it.
“I’ve always thought farmers should see the benefits of manag- ing the biodiversity on
their properties, and a market-based system can become a drought- proof income stream for them,” Minister Little- proud said.
“This program will be trialled across differ- ent commodities and in different regions and if successful, I hope it will be expanded as national policy following the trial.
“An on-farm biodiver- sity policy and method- ology will need to be developed and we’ll be consulting with Austral- ian National University and farm groups on this.
“Farmers are already making money from carbon payments and in the future we could potentially see farmers receiving payment for both biodiversity and carbon benefits from
the same project.
“This pilot program is
not part of the Carbon Solutions Fund – this is a dedicated trial aimed at biodiversity, though of course projects will likely have a carbon ben- efit also, which farmers deserve recognition for.”
Farmers should be rewarded for having plants and animals on their farm, not penalised through banning them using that land and of- fering no compensation.
“I’m offering a car- rot to farmers who look after biodiversity and absorb carbon, not ad- ditional and unnecessary regulation,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Farmers love nature and are also running a business.
“We need to recognise
both these realities.
“In many cases an incentive system such as this will both boost production – cattle and sheep put on more meat when they have good shelter, which bush and shelter belts provide – as well as the financial
incentive.
“Given almost 300 pro-
jects involving revegeta- tion have been approved through the Emissions Reduction Fund, many landholders already believe they can make comparable returns from carbon payments to what they would running live- stock, depending on cir- cumstance and region.”
A biodiversity cer- tification scheme will also give farmers mo- tivation and reward for looking after nature on
their properties.
“If shoppers are pre-
pared to pay more for produce that carries a biodiversity stamp then let’s create a brand and reward farmers who do that,” Minister Little- proud said.
“This is the way the world is headed.
“On my recent trip to the EU Agriculture Min- isters’ Conference, I saw how serious the rest of the world is about farm- ers looking after biodi- versity.
“If Australia is to con- tinue to be a world lead- er and maintain its key selling point overseas – our clean green reputa- tion – then we need to be thinking ahead of the game and these schemes are part of that picture.”
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Australian Pork Newspaper, April 2019 – Page 7