Fruit growers are concerned that the Federal Government’s plans for tax breaks for carbon-sink tree plantations will endanger Australia’s food-producing capacity as productive land is turned over to bluegum plantations.
Local orchardist and Fruit Growers Association of WA president, Di Fry, said the situation was providing incentives for growers to switch from food production.
The result would be more imported food and higher prices.
“We have some vegetable production farms which have gone into bluegums, we have seen some dairy farms go into bluegums, so they’re taken out of the farming system,” she added.
Fry said fruit prices could soar if less land was available for horticulture.
“There are places for tree plantations but it’s not in high-value agricultural land, where there’s good water supply and opportunities for people to grow food,” she said.