More than 100 workers at a Victorian tomato glasshouse have been indefinitely stood down after a devastating tomato virus hit the business.
Agriculture Victoria revealed on January 17 that quarantine controls were put in place at Katunga Fresh in the state’s north-east after tomato brown rugose fruit virus was found.
The virus spread from South Australia, where it was first detected five months ago.
Laid-off workers gather at a support hub at Katunga Recreation Reserve. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
The tomato virus caused huge losses in South Australia where growers were forced to destroy thousands of plants and deal with state import bans.
People who eat infected tomatoes, capsicums, and chillis are not at risk, but crop yields can be slashed by up to 70 per cent.
Now, the rush is on to try to eradicate the virus.
The tomato rugose virus has been detected at Katunga Fresh. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
Workers offered support
Katunga Fresh employs about 160 people in the small town.
According to Moira Shire Council, about 40 per cent of them are locals and the remaining staff are migrant workers including those on the federal government’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
Katunga Fresh has been put into quarantine. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
“The site is being quarantined and therefore operations there need to cease, so 100 employees are being laid off,” council administrator Graeme Edmonson said.
Another 20 staff were stood down last week.
“Some of the staff have been there for considerable periods of time,” Mr Edmonson said.
“It’s really significant and devastating not only for those employees and Katunga Fresh but also for the broader Katunga community.”
Mercy Quiambao receives a box of food from the support hub. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
‘Very sad, very hopeless’
Filipino agribusiness student Mercy Quiambao worked as a packer at Katunga Fresh for the past two years.
“I feel so sad and devastated because this is already our home and I already built a community here,” she said.
“I’m just very sad and very hopeless right now.
“I have to pay tuition fees and I’m relying on my job and I have family waiting for me to send money back home.”
Workers gather to receive food and support at a pop-up community hub. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
She hoped she would be offered her job back soon.
“I need some work, and some financial support, and information when we’re going back [into] our work because right now we are very clueless,” Ms Quiambao said.
“I got my last pay … and now I’m not financially capable to survive the next month,” she said.
Small town braces for fallout
Cath Stanyer from the Numurkah Uniting Church has been volunteering at the Katunga Recreation Reserve to provide food, information, and support to affected workers.
She said the farm workers from Vanuatu, Thailand, and the Philippines had become much-loved members of their church congregation over the past four years.
“A few busloads would come to church from Katunga Fresh every week,” she said.
“I just hope [Katunga Fresh] gets up and running again.”
Cath Stanyer says the church is figuring out how to assist workers. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
‘Hit us hard’
Katunga General Store owner Peter Heyen said the decision was going to “hit hard”.
“It’s going to impact not just Katunga but the whole Moira Shire,” Mr Heyen said.
The local shopkeeper said Katunga Fresh was a big supporter of local clubs, and everyone was desperate for some certainty about its future.
“It’s a big shock for [the workers]. They’ve all come from different places around the world to earn money to send to their families,” he said.
Peter Heyen says the job losses will affect the whole shire. (ABC Shepparton: Callum Marshall)
“It’s really going to hurt them [along] with the locals.”
According to nationally agreed biosecurity protocols, business owners affected by the virus are required to take steps to eradicate it.
The process is being managed by Agriculture Victoria and can include decontamination of the site and a period of closure.
The federal government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is investigating the importation of seeds infected with the virus to South Australia.
