Tourists posing for photos of canola fields

A growing biosecurity risk for farmers is a result of a social media trend in which eager tourists drive out to flowering canola fields, jump fences and seek out the perfect selfie.

Two weeks ago, Tim Condon was driving over the crest of a hill at about 90 km h near Harden Murrumburrah in southern New South Wales when he had to slam on the brakes. He said two cars of families with little kids were spread across the road to take photos of the canola.

I was lucky to be in a Prado and had the wits about me so I could stop in time. If you had been a big double stock crate full of stock, you wouldn't have been able to stop. That really hit me in the face at how unaware some of these people are. Every spring, social media platforms like Instagram are filled with photos of people posing in a sea of yellow canola flowers, with captions like The Best things in Life are free and Life is full of beauty, sometimes we have to slow down to notice it. Condon, a Delta agronomist and works with growers across the NSW Hilltops region, said that the social media trend is becoming a problem in Harden because it is so close to Canberra.

He said that there was a promotion in Canberra to go do the canola drive, and people are randomly driving out to a farm, pulling up and wandering through a crop.

Biosecurity risk is a concern for growers because they are straight up a concern for the current environment. Tony Flanery, a Galong wheat and canola farmer, said the onus is on farmers to have a biosecurity management plan in place and keep a register of people who visit the property under the latest changes to the NSW Biosecurity Act.

He said there was a real fear about foot- and mouth disease FMD and what quarantine people have been through and where they came from. It poses a real risk to us now, particularly since it's something that is a real risk to us. If there was an outbreak of FMD in Australia, a concern is that before farmers can claim any compensation from the government they have to provide a biosecurity plan and a register of visitors.

When you get people just wantonly trespassing, there is an argument as to whether you did or didn't enforce your plan. Flanery said he has witnessed a number of instances where people have parked in dangerous positions on the road, or have trespassed on his property, but one experience left him flabbergasted. One time he found a couple literally two kilometres from the road in the middle of his paddock and said it was nearly impossible to get them off his property.

They refused to leave. They had the camera set up on a tripod and were settling in for the afternoon. Flanery said a Boorowa farmer had had people drive into his paddock and cut the fence to get in because they wanted photos of them hanging out of their car.

Flanery said that he is happy for tourists to visit rural Australia and take photos but they need to be aware of the risks for farmers and the consequences of their actions.

Chris Groves farm is located between Cowra and Canowindra in central-western NSW and he said biosecurity and keep out signs have been hung on the property.

He said that all our staff was told that if they see someone in the paddock, immediately call the police. If you jump fences into people's paddocks, you are breaking the law. He said that if people want to visit canola fields there are plenty of organised tours and tourists can contact the Cowra Visitor Information Centre.

It's the equivalent of someone jumping into your front yard in Sydney to take a picture with your flowers.