Mr Sewell (Geraldton): “That leads me to refer to the position in which the growers in Geraidton found themselves in July or August last.
The loss which occurred in the tomato crop was very heavy, but the total has not yet been assessed, because the season has not been concluded.
Unfortunately the end is very near, and this resulted from the use of the insecticide 2,4-D.
Last Year the Singapore market took 38,000 cases of tomatoes from Geraldton. and that represented a handy source of income to the State, and particularly to the Geraldton district.
This yea rtha tmarket was supplied with 21,000 cases,be-cause the season closed much earlier,and that will probably result in the loss of some portion of the Singapore
market.That was caused by the trouble experienced in the use of herbicides.”
p1436 Legislative Assembly Western Australia 13th October 1965.
https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard%5Chansard1870to1995.nsf/vwMainBackground/19651013_Assembly.pdf/$File/19651013_Assembly.pdf