The Department of Agriculture has approved a permit to import bulk wheat from Canada with Australia set to import foreign-grown grain for the first time since 2007.
Since drought has devastated the winter crop of wheat on Australia’s east coast, increasing the cost of grain domestically, there have been months of speculation about potential grain imports.
Whilst concern about imports jeopardising Australia’s biosecurity have been expressed by grain grower groups, a statement released by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources says "the import conditions require that the grain is sourced from areas assessed as presenting a low plant and animal biosecurity risk and impose strict movement, storage and processing controls within Australia."