Farmers have warned more funding is needed to ensure the nation's agricultural and veterinary product regulator can continue to provide access to key farm inputs.
On Tuesday the latest performance report of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) revealed just 54.9 per cent of new assessments of agricultural chemicals are being completed on time.
NSW Farmers' Agricultural Science Committee Chair Alan Brown said new, ongoing funding for the APVMA was urgently needed to ensure farmers could access essential agricultural chemicals that would protect their crops and produce.
"There are all these new products out there that could save our crops from pests and diseases, but we can't use them yet, because they haven't been assessed or approved," Mr Brown said.
"We don't want to have to let Aussie families to go without fresh, healthy food, just because we don't have the tools we need to produce it - but that's the way we'll go, if our regulator doesn't have the funding it needs."
To support the APVMA's vital activities, NSW Farmers called on the Federal Government to commit $8 million annually to deliver improvements within the regulator. While previous calls to deliver ongoing funding for the regulator had been ignored, Mr Brown said this must change or else the APVMA's performance would continue to restrict agricultural productivity.
"Farmers need a regulator that is transparent, efficient and adequately supported to deliver outcomes that benefit agriculture, the environment and the wider community," Mr Brown said.
"The Federal Government claims they know how important national food security is, but they're not giving us the tools we need to deliver it."
