Please note, the spelling of Dr Hermann Voglmayr corrected below.
The Liberal Government has acted quickly and appropriately to support Tasmania's $90-million poppy industry to tackle the current downy mildew disease outbreak.
I am very pleased to announce today a $320,000 industry-wide research initiative involving the State Government, Poppy Growers Tasmania, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) and the three poppy processing companies: Tasmanian Alkaloids, GlaxoSmithKline and TPI Enterprises.
This rapid response effort coordinated by AgriGrowth Tasmania, the body we established to be responsive to the needs of primary industries, will look at the fungus' biology, its transmission and future control strategies.
The poppy processing companies have been working extremely hard with their growers, research staff and field officers to minimise the impact of the current outbreak.
This collaborative research will provide vitally important biological insights which will be shared between project partners for the benefit of the industry as a whole.
One of the first initiatives of the cooperative program is to bring one of the world's foremost researchers into downy mildew to Tasmania.
Dr Hermann Voglmayr from the University of Vienna will meet with growers, processing companies and research staff during a visit to Tasmania next week.
The research is being led by the TIA and is being jointly funded by the three processing companies, Poppy Growers Tasmania and the Liberal Government through our new AgriVision 2050 Research and Development Program, with each partner contributing a total of $64,000 over two years.
This initiative demonstrates how the Government is working directly with industry on relevant research and development that is vital for achieving our vision for growing the value of our agricultural produce ten-fold by 2050.
"It is good to see the cooperative approach from government, industry and research institutions to address the disease. This response is all about securing the future of the poppy industry in Tasmania so we have gone all out to engage some of the worlds' leading plant pathologists to work with our local farmers and poppy processors to get a long term practical solution to this issue as soon as we can," the Poppy Growers Tasmania Chief Executive Officer Keith Rice said.
"The first step is to use DNA analysis to determine the exact species and strain that was causing the recent problems in Tasmania's poppy crops before developing management strategies. We have already started collecting samples of the downy mildew from the field and will know in coming months what we are up against," the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture Director Professor Holger Meinke said.
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Primary Industries and Water