"Biosecurity is what keeps me up at night... it is make or break in a lot of ways."
Those were some of the thoughts expressed by WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis at the GrainGrowers Limited annual general meeting dinner held at the Duxton Hotel in Perth last Wednesday.
She said the significance of the State's agricultural industry in maintaining food security for Australia's neighbouring countries shouldn't be forgotten.
On the back of a recent trip to Indonesia as part of the State government's biggest ever trade delegation, Ms Jarvis said the visit had reaffirmed the important role WA's grain sector played as a major food bowl for South East Asia, with the State exporting 2.3 million tonnes of wheat to Indonesia in the past year alone.
"When I was there, quite a lot of the local media and journalists in Jakarta were asking whether we were going to implement a wheat protection policy and withhold our wheat with the war in Ukraine and if we are worried about food security," Ms Jarvis said.
"I had to say to them we only have 2.8 million people and we had a 26mt crop last year, so we export 90 per cent of our wheat because we can't eat it all, so please buy our wheat.
"I think in Australia we forget that other countries are genuinely concerned about their food security and we have a really important role to play."
Heading off on another trade mission to Thailand and Vietnam with the CBH Group last week, Ms Jarvis said despite some of the recent biosecurity challenges that had been thrown in the mix including an outbreak of lumpy skin disease in Australian cattle in Indonesia, the government was consistently working on strengthening the agricultural sectors trading relationships behind the scenes.
While the past couple of bumper seasons for WA's farmers appear to be followed by a more marginal season this year, the minister said she appreciated that the State's sheep farmers had also fallen on some hard times.
"I do talk to sheep farmers all the time, despite what you may hear in opposition media releases...and I do understand what is going on with sheep prices," Ms Jarvis said.
"I can assure you that I speak to Minister Watt on a regular basis...but I just want to acknowledge that I know it's a difficult season for some and through the leadership of you all, you'll get through it."
