The United States has been given the green light to send fresh apples to Australia, after more than 20 years of lobbying. The announcement comes after Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry stated it had completed a risk analysis for the importation of fresh apples from US Pacific Northwest.
Growers will be subject to strict biosecurity procedures set out by the department, and fruit will be imported from the states of Washington, Idaho and Oregon. This region accounts for 65 per cent of apple production and exports in the US.
However, the area also has at least 20 pests and disease that are not found in Australian orchards, including fire blight. Australia is one of the few countries in the world that does not have fire blight, and all orchardists want to keep it that way.
Nicole Giblett is one of Western Australia's largest producers in Manjimup, in the state's south-west. She said she hoped Australians would continue buy locally grown apples: "We're already in an industry that's in a state of massive oversupply domestically, with huge volumes yet to come. There's a lot of orchards not yet in full production. We've got a lot of wonderful apple varieties that were developed here and are already popular. There's an apple to suit every taste, every palette - I don't think we need any more."
Fred Pezzimenti is the operations manager at Melbourne wholesaler Simply Fresh Fruit, which focuses on local produce. He said the business would try to steer clear of US apples, but believes supermarkets will leap at the chance of securing cheaper produce.
Source: abc.net.au