| May 16, 2008, Jodie Thomson
Australia may have its own food crisis, with the WA Vegetable Growers Association indicating their fear that WA will be unable to feed itself with fresh local produce by about 2020.
The WA Vegetable Growers Association has called on the state government to create a regulatory authority to license growers and ensure sufficient production levels. Grower margins have become an issue as skyrocketing costs outweigh any increases in sale prices.
Chief Executive of the WA Vegetable Growers Association, Jim Turley, has labelled the current system as unsustainable.
The way we are going, WA growers will be incapable of supplying sufficient quantities of fresh vegetables within 10 to 15 years. We simply wont be able to grow enough to feed ourselves
The WA Fruit Growers Association and the WA Farmers Federation (WAFarmers) have also outlined their concerns about current regulation and the future of the food industry in Western Australia and fear an exodus of farmers from the industry. |