MERCURY
Then came the savage blow which destroyed their decades of work. “One morning, out of nowhere, a cloud of 2,4-D, a highly volatile herbicide used to kill broadleaf weeds, drifted over the nursery,” Mr Dudley said. “A month later a second cloud descended and did even more damage. “We lost the majority of our plants and without seed we lost our wholesale markets — economically it ruined us.” Mr Dudley said the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment did not take their complaints seriously.
By 2007 the Dudleys were producing six kilos of seeds, about 500,000, annually with all stock wholesaled in Japan, Europe, America and Britain.
“We’d built up a highly successful microbusiness, had gained respect in the industry and our production was growing each year,” Mr Dudley said.
Then came the savage blow which destroyed their decades of work.
“One morning, out of nowhere, a cloud of 2,4-D, a highly volatile herbicide used to kill broadleaf weeds, drifted over the nursery,” Mr Dudley said.
“A month later a second cloud descended and did even more damage.
“We lost the majority of our plants and without seed we lost our wholesale markets — economically it ruined us.”
Mr Dudley said the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment did not take their complaints seriously.
“For the first year we were full of anger and consumed with feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said.
“Then we realised that was getting us nowhere and ultimately it was up to us to do something about our situation.
