THE Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has approved a 4Farmers' Zinc Phosphide bait (ZnP) for broadacre mice control in Australia.
But 4Farmers general manager Neil Mortimore believes the approval has come far too late, saying the majority of mice problems throughout the Wheatbelt are now under control or simply over.
"The mice situation seems to be a bit like last year," Mr Mortimore said.
"Now it's closer to the middle of the season and crops are more well established the trouble has subsided."
But he said a resurgence in mice numbers wasn't impossible.
"Last year on the east coast a large number of growers had mice running up the stalks of their canola and living under swaths long into the season," Mr Mortimore said.
"East coast growers were still baiting for the rodents late in the year."
Mr Mortimore said it was a shame the WA "mouse window" had passed because growers could have experienced a new level of control with the 4Farmers product.
He also blamed the APVMA for the registration hold-up, saying the Australian Government authority charged with the assessment and registration of pesticides and veterinary medicines should be held more accountable in this particular case.
"The APVMA had a considerable amount of time to review the product and there have also been some excuses there in terms of the time frame," Mr Mortimore said.
"The length of time the product was there compared to the length of time we would expect any other registration to be done by and the verbal feedback we got back from the APVMA just doesn't match up.
"We should have got this much earlier."
He went on to say it was disappointing the APVMA didn't apply some common sense by recognising there was a problem and that the crops of Australian grain growers were quickly being damaged and depleted by mice at the break of the season.
In confirming the registration of the 4Farmers product, APVMA public affairs manager Sue Whitbread said the authority's hands were tied.
"Unfortunately the product will miss this week's gazette so it will be formally gazetted the fortnight after," she said.
"Five months is the standard time frame for this type of product to be put through to the gazette stage.
"And while we certainly do our level best to meet said time frames, sometimes we can't control where products are in the queue."
Ms Whitbread said additional capacity and other applications also needed to be considered when reviewing products at the APVMA.
"For whatever reason products don't always come to us in neat perfect bundles," she said.
"I'm not saying this was the case for the 4Farmers product but not everybody has the same level of understanding about the APVMA's process so sometimes we have to work through applications that aren't as well constructed as others and that can slow things down substantially.
"With certain tolerances, we won't make necessarily 100 per cent under the current regulatory arrangements but we have done our level best to get the 4Farmers product out as soon as possible.
"The way our legislation is set up we must take things as they come in through the door.
"It has got to be an equitable system for everybody and that's the only way we can do it."
4Farmers ZnP Mouse Bait will cost $2.48 a kilogram at baiting manufacturing sites but won't include grain or packaging which growers can supply themselves.
Even after supply of the farmers' own grain and packaging the cost might only be about $2.75/kg compared to similar available products that cost about $10/kg.
4Farmers also suggested anecdotal evidence has shown the quality of its product is better than similar product with less grain required to kill mice and a seemingly quicker kill.
