Growers hope that a tomato virus will be managed, she will get back to work

Tomato producers in South Australia have struck by a fruit virus hoping “to rebuild their lives”, because officials admit that extermination is no longer possible.

This week, the National Management Group (NMG) of biosafe safety experts and representatives of the industry decided that it was not “technically feasible” to eradicate the Tomato Brown Rugosis Fruit virus (TobFV) from Australia after the state boundaries exceeded.

Perfection fresh in the Northern Adelaide Plains Food Bowl region was the first site to detect the highly contagious virus in August.

Almost a year later, CEO Miconetta still remembers “one of the worst days” of his career when he told nearly 500 employees that he had no job available to them.

“We have taken 1.2 million healthy plants from our greenhouse and dumped a hundred tons perfectly, safe, edible fruit,” he said.

“I feel more for our employees on our site on two wells. It was heartbreaking, it was devastating, words failed me.”

Despite the fact that infected tomatoes are safe to eat, Perfection Fresh is one of the three South Australian locations that are confronted for export restrictions for some states.

The virus spread in January to a Victorian tomato glass and infected seedlings were detected at the same location in May – but this time they came from a commercial children’s room in New South Wales, a state without earlier ties with the virus.

Last week the Victorian authorities said tracing was going on to find out where the infection came from.

Hundreds of jobs were lost in those two states and growers have had to destroy thousands of affected plants.

Management no extermination

The NMG has focused on extermination, but on Thursday it agreed that it will move to management – a strategy that has long been asked for the value of the value of which Mr. Simonetta and other growers have long been asked.

“We have argued from the first day that this virus had to be managed and eradication was impossible, we thought, based on what is happening all over the world,” said Mr. Simonetta.

“The reality is that growers manage viruses every day of their lives and this is no different.

“The move to management now will enable all those companies to … do business again and to rebuild their lives because this has decimated many growers.”

Yet Mr. Simonetta said that it would be January or February before his company returned to the entire production.

SA Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven On Friday said that if the State took a management approach when the virus was first detected, it was “almost certain” that other local growers would have been blocked for exporting the tomatoes.

“We are aimed at ensuring that we have had market access for more than 200 growers that we have here in South Australia,” she said.

“That would remain our focus if we move to what the management phase is called.”

Mrs Scriven said that the national change of strategy was prompted by extra detections Interstate, but in South Australia the virus has been admitted to three companies.

“We have been able to manage access to a number of other areas of law for one of those companies, the other two have not been able to be to a large extent,” she said.

The NMG said that the current strategies to limit the spread remained in force until “an agreed national strategy for management can be developed in consultation with affected industries”.