Feral pigs cost North West region $47 million, says Ag Econ study

It’s no secret feral pigs can cause significant damage to both grazing and cropping enterprises.

The pests are a huge concern for the agricultural sector, but North West Local Land Services said the exact amount of financial pain pigs cause farmers’ hip pockets hasn’t been investigated closely for more than 10 years.

Previous figures have suggested an estimated $14 million loss to wool, sheep and crop enterprises across NSW per annum.

Burren Junction’s Janine Powell, a partner with agricultural research, development and extension provider Ag Econ, has previously examined the economic impacts of feral pigs and the cost-benefit analysis of various control methods available for a range of commodities.

This initial research concluded that landholders could see a potential net benefit of up to $100 per hectare if they conducted control programs for feral pigs.

Ag Econ has gone a step further and has now determined the actual seasonal impact of feral pigs for the North West region, focussing on the winter 2020 and summer 2020-21 cropping periods.

Through surveying agronomists and land managers across the region, Ag Econ found an estimated $47 million loss of agricultural production for the North West region alone for this period.

The study’s results indicated that the highest enterprise loss of $113/ha was for the summer 2020-21 summer crop of irrigated cotton.

As a high-value crop, even low to moderate potential yield losses by feral pigs led to economic losses four times higher than other crops.

An estimated 15,000 bales of both irrigated and dryland cotton valued at over $8 million was lost to feral pigs last season.

Wheat, being of lower value, had an estimated loss of more than $20 million.

David Lindsay, senior biosecurity officer with North West Local Land Services, said this equates to the equivalent of 77,000 tonnes of lost grain.

“Per hectare, the wheat losses were $25/ha, however, due to the scale of planting the losses certainly add up,” said Mr Lindsay.

“This highlights that regionally feral pigs are causing large economic losses, not just in high-value crops,” he said.

“Graziers are not exempt from feral pig impacts either.

“Regionally, lamb losses were estimated at just under $2 million or 11,000 lambs lost.

“With livestock prices rising and predation of lambs by feral pigs not often identified, this cost could easily be much higher.

“Biosecurity Officers have seen an increase in enquiry from sheep farmers, particularly for feral pig control options.

Mr Lindsay said he hoped the information provided and reports by Ag Econ would encourage landholders to consider their control programs and think about just how much they are willing to lose to feral pigs.