By Alesha Capone
Thousands of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) are being delivered to Victorian farmers, including those in Werribee South, as part of a joint initiative to minimise disruption to food supply chains.
The project, a collaboration between the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), Food and Fibre Gippsland and Fruit Growers Victoria, involved the organisations ordering a supply RATs from HiCraft Safety in New South Wales.
VFF president Emma Germano said the initiative came about because the industry, along with many others, has “been crying out for RATs for months”.
“We decided to get on the front foot and secure a supply of tests ourselves,” she said.
Agricultural businesses across the state were given 48 hours to request some of the RATs which ordered from NSW, which have been offered to purchasers at “a fair price” with a small fee added to cover distribution costs.
“The response has been enormous,” Ms Germano said.
“We’ve had over 56,000 orders within two days from literally every corner of Victoria.”
Mobil has donated the fuel needed to deliver the orders to farms across the state.
VFF vice-president Danyel Cucinotta is a third-generation farmer at LT’s Egg Farm in Werribee South, along with her sister Renay Ahmed.
Mrs Cucinotta said the RATs were delivered to farms within Melbourne’s peri-urban areas on Wednesday, February 2.
She said that farmers wanted to do the right thing and obey the state government’s COVID-19 workplace directives, but this was hard to do without access to RATs.
“A number of farms are feeling the pressure, if you have a picking or packing shed, especially those with a grading floor where there are a number of staff working in a smaller location together, if you have one, two or three people out due to isolation, it severely disrupts that production line,” she said.
Mrs Cucinotta said the agricultural and hospitality industries were both experiencing a shortage of staff, putting even more pressure on food growers and producers.
She said the Wyndham Cache café and deli, which is located at LT’s Egg Farm, had been lucky enough to recruit a few new employees during the past two months, after a number of staff relocated to regional Victoria and intestate.
