Grain Crop

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Can the minister inform the house about the state's current grain crop, and how the season is progressing?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:34): I thank the member for Kaurna for the question. I can indeed inform the house about the current grain crop, and it is predominantly good news. We have the latest Crop and Pasture Report for South Australia, which was released today, and the good news is—as most people in the house would know—that above-average temperatures in most parts of the state, up about 1° or 2° right across the state, as well as some good average to above average rainfalls through May and June, have really helped things. We do not want to count our chickens yet, but it is looking like another bumper crop. In fact, it will be the sixth year in a row that we are above the 10-year average, providing everything goes to plan for the rest of the—

Mr TARZIA: Point of order, sir. This information seems to be publicly available on the internet.

An honourable member: It’s on the PIRSA website.

Mr TARZIA: It is on the PIRSA website. I understand he is in France a lot, but it would seem that this is on the PIRSA website.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I got the member for Hartley’s point of order. Perhaps the minister will do some commentary on this morning’s address.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I know the member for Hartley is a new member, but if he looks down at his feet and looks at the carpet in here, he will see that wheat is a very important part of our state’s economy and always has been—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir. Not only is the minister debating, he is actually reflecting on the ruling you have just made against him.

The SPEAKER: I am not sure that he is. Minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and in no way was I reflecting on you, but I was reflecting on the member for Hartley for not allowing me to come in here to talk about one of our great industries, one of the drivers of our economy—

Ms Redmond: No, we’re saying you can’t tell us what is already on the web. Tell us something we don’t already have access to.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Oh, I’ll tell you something.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen appears to be laughing at her own joke. The Minister for Agriculture.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you again, Mr Speaker. PIRSA’s crop and pasture report is predicting an above average grain crop of 7.9 million tonnes, which is great news for the entire state. Whether you are in an agricultural electorate or not, we all benefit from good yields across the state. So it is terrific news for our farmers, terrific news for our economy and it is something that goes to the heart of the pillars of our government, and that is premium food and wine from our clean environment. It is a very important thing.

Early sowing combined with mild conditions during May and early June set the crops up for some rapid growth in most areas of the state. In some areas, though, things have not gone quite as well as others. One challenging issue has been the presence of an aphid and virus which are causing damage to canola crops. The beet western yellows virus is spread by the green peach aphid. The virus has damaged up to 10,000 hectares—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The member for Goyder is interested in this even if some of his colleagues aren’t. The virus has damaged up to 10,000 hectares of canola crop on Eyre Peninsula and York Peninsula and in the Mid North and Mallee regions. This is out of 300,000 hectares of canola sown statewide. While this has been a significant issue to deal with, the affected canola crops have already been pulled out and re-sown with barley Clearfield wheat, which is herbicide-tolerant, or with canola.

Some pulse crops are also at risk of the green peach aphid spreading the virus with the warmer conditions of this coming spring. The strain of virus has been confirmed to also infect pulses and it has been found in pulse crops interstate. The industry has acted quickly, calling for and receiving funding to deal with emerging issues that require prompt attention, and I would like to thank the staff at SARDI and also at PIRSA for working with the industry to try to combat this problem.

If all goes well in the next few months, this season’s crop, as I said before, will be the sixth above-average crop in succession based on the 10-year average. Collectively, the past five crops since 2009-10 have produced 41.3 million tonnes and exports worth around $12.5 billion for South Australia, and this season’s crop looks like adding to this impressive run of seasons.