Intensive blueberry farming has exploded in NSW since 2001 by nearly 400%, with 90% of that expansion taking place around Coffs Harbour and the Mid North Coast. Glossy marketing campaigns want us to believe they’re a superfood, but the way blueberries are being grown is leaving a toxic legacy for our rivers and wildlife and threatens people’s health.
Most large-scale blueberry farms rely on the use of pesticides and fertilisers that wash into creeks and estuaries when it rains. High concentrations of imidacloprid - a bee-killing insecticide that’s been banned in the EU and UK - has been found in local waterways, and this chemical alone is devastating for aquatic invertebrates which are the foundation of healthy river ecosystems.
When waterways are poisoned, fish, frogs and insects all suffer, and so do local communities and businesses that rely on clean water like oyster farmers.
Toxic runoff from blueberry farms and other intensive horticulture is polluting rivers, wetlands and even marine parks. It’s destroying sensitive habitats and threatening public health, because in some places, these chemicals are flowing into the same water catchments used for drinking water. Testing has uncovered high levels of a range of pesticides on blueberries sold at supermarkets, many that have been banned in the EU for years and one - thiometon - an insecticide that has been banned in Australia since 2001.
The NSW Government is allowing these intensive industries to operate right up to the edge of rivers and neighbouring properties with no buffer zones, little oversight and minimal accountability. Why has this industry been allowed to get away with this for so long?
It’s time to fix this industry, clean up our waterways, and protect communities and wildlife.