Assistance Grants – Access to Industry Priority Uses of Agvet Chemicals 2018-20

Overview

The Assistance Grants – Access to Industry Priority Uses of Agvet Chemicals program will run over 2018–19 to 2019–20. Access to safe and effective agvet chemicals is important to the Australian agricultural and livestock industries, community and environment. Agvet chemicals sold in Australia must be authorised by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), via registration or permit. The APVMA must also approve the specific uses of every product, based on its assessment of information contained in a comprehensive data package provided by applicants. The costs of generating this information for emerging or speciality livestock and crop industries, or new pest species, can act as a significant barrier for chemical companies given the low expected sales revenue and therefore returns on their investment. Larger industries may also face a similar problem when managing uncommon or emerging pests and diseases. These chemical access issues are referred to collectively as the ‘minor use’ problem. The Australian Government has committed $14.3 million over six years (2014–15 to 2019–20) to the Improved Access to Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals initiative. The aim of the initiative is to increase the number of safe, appropriate and efficacious uses of new and existing agvet chemical products available in the Australian market. The initiative has established a cross industry collaborative forum to identify priority uses of agvet chemicals in commodity sectors. It has also established the Assistance Grants – Access to Industry Priority Uses of Agvet Chemicals program, with the expected outcome of assisting industry to access those priority uses. The objectives of the grants program are to provide funding to assist with data generation to support an application to the APVMA that seeks to gain, maintain or broaden access to priority uses of agvet chemicals identified by the collaborative forum.