WHILE foot and mouth disease dominated Australian agricultural industry discussion in the latter half of 2022, it seemingly dropped off the radar into the new year.
But Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Scott Young said it was still very much an issue that had key agencies working together to keep off Australian shores.
“It may have gone out of mainstream media, but industry are still working very hard,” he told The Guardian.
“There is a regular meeting between industry and Agriculture Victoria and government as to what we are working on at the moment.
“It is still right at the forefront of everybody’s minds.”
Mr Young said the latest reports contend the current chances of FMD entering Australia is at 11 per cent.
“Lumpy skin disease (LSD), which is over there as well, is probably just at a bit higher threat at the moment to the industry. It is a bit more transmittable because it gets transferred by biting insects, a bit like Japanese encephalitis,” Mr Young said.
“The government are doing work with the Indonesian Government and they are vaccinating, but it is a bit harder to control with the fact that the insects which carry it can move about and it’s not contact-to-contact like FMD is.”
The arrival of FMD or LSD into Australia would have catastrophic impacts for the agricultural industry and the wider community.
Mr Young said farmers needed to be proactive and have up-to-date biosecurity plans in place, should the worst happen.
“The concern is always there and we don’t want those diseases in Australia,” he said.
“As farmers, we can ensure that we are doing good biosecurity practices, we’ve all got our biosecurity plans in place, washing down vehicles from other properties that come onto our farms, our boots and all those good things.
“The VFF website has got some really good links to biosecurity and things that farmers can actually do on their farms, and good links to government websites that sometimes are a bit hard to find.”
Mr Young said Agriculture Victoria were continuing to work to set Australia up should there be an outbreak, including vaccines and outbreak scenarios.
“It is just out of the media at the moment, but we can assure everybody that there is still work getting done in the background,” Mr Young said.
