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An outbreak of the tomato brown rugose virus has led the South Australian Government to quarantine three production facilities in the state, with the action putting at risk hundreds of jobs in the industry.
The closures include Perfection Fresh, one of the country's largest tomato producers, along with Gawler River Tomatoes and South Australia Tomatoes.
The devastating fallout for the $230 million industry comes a little over a month after the state government revealed that the virus was detected in the Northern Adelaide Plains, the first time the disease had been found in Australia.
Premier Peter Malinauskas says the quarantine order has been a “difficult decision” for the government as the three facilities produce a “very significant volume of the South Australian tomato crop”.
Malinauskas stresses that the virus doesn’t compromise the health of the tomatoes for human consumption.
“There's no reason why South Australians should stop purchasing tomatoes,” he says.
“They're perfectly healthy. In fact, we actively encourage people to continue to do so. What the virus does is affect the appearance of tomatoes, but most concerningly, it reduces the productivity of tomato plants.”
The virus can potentially cut the yield of tomatoes by up to 75 per cent for growers.
“That, of course, has grave consequences for the tomato industry throughout the country,” says Malinauskas.
“Where we have the option to curtail that impact, the state government has an obligation to do so.”
The government is seeking to contain the virus with a view to eradicating it, which Malinauskas concedes "may or may not be possible".
"But where we have a chance to achieve it, we simply must go for it,” he says.
The closure of the three farms is expected to impact the jobs of close to 500 people, many of them Pacific islanders who undertake seasonal work in Australia.
The government has established a task force that will also deliver a worker assistance hub, which will be operational at the Virginia Horticultural Centre by tomorrow morning.
Clare Scriven, the SA Minister for Primary Industries, points to the urgent need to “get on top of the disease, if at all possible”.
“If we were not to get on top of this or were not to put these quarantines in place, (other states) could close their doors to South Australian tomatoes,” she says.
“That would be devastating for the industry, and that’s why we’re so keen to have the government put in place these quarantines and protect the industry.”
The state government says the virus at this stage appears to be contained to just the three locations identified.
However, the state’s chief plant health officer Nick Secomb says the quarantining of these farms is not purely a “South Australian decision”.
“There’s a national emergency plant pest response deed, where we come together as a number of states and affected industries to deliberate on the impacts of diseases such as this, and it's been agreed at that level that this is a very significant disease,” he says.
“It warrants further attention. So, this is something that we will be considering at a national level.”
Other states have acted in response to the outbreak of the tomato brown rugose virus, including NSW which last week issued a control order to protect the state’s tomato, capsicum and chilli industries.
Queensland last month suspended the movement of tomato seeds, tomato seedlings and tomato fruit into Queensland from South Australia, while Western Australia has also put import requirements on potential carriers of the virus.
When the South Australian outbreak was first revealed in August, Biosecurity New Zealand placed import restrictions on tomato seed imports from Australia and all tomato imports from Australia.
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