The range of organic vegetables available in Australia would shrink and hundreds of organic businesses be devastated under federal government plans to change import rules, the industry has warned.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has proposed compulsory fungicide treatment on a host of vegetable seeds entering Australia, saying increasing globalisation of the vegetable seed trade, among other factors, has brought a heightened risk of pathogens entering the country.
The changes would apply to some brassicaceous crop seeds including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, rocket, cabbage, turnips, bok choy, brussels sprouts and radishes.
Australia is almost totally reliant on imported vegetable seeds. However seeds treated with fungicide would not be considered organic, meaning the range of organic or pesticide-free vegetables grown in Australia would fall dramatically under the proposal.
The department earlier this year imposed mandatory fungicide treatment on some melons. The organics industry says broadening the treatment to such a wide range of vegetables would affect food consumers as well as market farms, home gardeners, small seed suppliers, community and school gardens and fresh produce markets.
Andrew Jones of BurraBee Farm near Queanbeyan in NSW, grows chemical-free produce including brassicaceous crops, which he sells at markets and direct to households.
He said the change would “kill my business ... and the customer will be left with no choice but to go with a chemically affected plant”.
“People are trying to do what they can to be chemical-free ... for me that’s important and for my customers that’s important,” Mr Jones said.
His produce includes “weird things” such as purple and orange cauliflower and blue kale, which are not readily available elsewhere.
If the changes are implemented, his farm would be limited to growing one of a few domestically supplied, common brassicaceous crop seeds that had not been chemically treated.
“If I’m just selling a white cauliflower ... if I don’t have a purple cauliflower or something that sets me aside from regular markets then I’m just a vegetable seller,” Mr Jones said.
The cost of untreated seeds would also rise steeply, which would be reflected in the price of his produce.
“People will not pay $8 for [my] cauliflower if they are $2 at the shops,” he said.
Green Harvest Organic Gardening Supplies chief executive Frances Michaels, whose small business has supplied organic, heirloom vegetable seed for 25 years, said mandatory fungicide treatment “will make it difficult to continue”.
“It will be hard to justify maintaining an organic certification without being able to supply such a wide range of vegetable seed,” she said.
Ms Michaels, whose Queensland-based business employs 23 people, said the department should offer an organic alternative to mandatory fungicide treatment, such as seed testing.
“Not even suggesting this is under consideration is a slap in the face to the organic industry,” she said.
Ms Michaels has started an online petition against the proposal, which she says threatens Australia’s vegetable biodiversity and food security.
Australian Certified Organic general manager Sachin Ayachit, whose organisation is the nation’s largest organic certifier, said the change would have a seismic effect on the industry.
“The sheer volume, the number of [plant] varieties we are talking about is huge,” he said.
Several hundred of his growers would be affected, as would exporters of organic produce.
The forced chemical treatment of some seeds has been proposed by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, headed by minister David Littleproud.
Mr Ayachit said vegetables grown from fungicide-treated seed would not be considered organic under his organisation’s standard, or national export standards.
He said there were few certified organic seed suppliers in Australia, and so consumers “may not have certified organic products [available] in the categories that are under review” by the department.
While certifiers could provide exemptions - allowing produce from seed that had undergone mandatory fungicide treatment to still be classed as organic - this defeated the intent of the standard and defied consumer expectations, he said.
In a statement, the department said Australia’s biosecurity was paramount and the review aimed “to ensure ongoing protection for Australia’s vegetable industry from increasing biosecurity risks”.
The review recognised the importance of ensuring Australian producers could access imported seeds, but also “that there is an increased risk of seed-borne pathogens ... and the importance of managing that risk.”
“The proposed mandatory treatment ... will help manage the risk of these pathogens being introduced to Australia,” it said.
The draft proposal is available for public comment until April 19.
