POPPY Growers Tasmania president Glynn Williams has welcomed the outcome of recent contract negotiations for poppy farmers with GSK Opiates.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ownership of the company will, from September 1, pass to Indian-based company Sun Pharma.
"Sun Pharma have hit the ground running and wasted no time to back Tasmanian farmers where it really counts," Mr Williams said.
"The price increases we have negotiated for morphine and noscapine poppies of 12 per cent are a massive vote of confidence and support in Tasmanian farmers.
"The boost to returns is vital for the Tasmanian poppy growing system — GSK have indicated that, once again, there will be no commercial growing of poppies by the company outside Tasmania in the 2015/16 summer growing season.
"With the world oversupply of thebaine material, area growing that variety will fall away heavily. However, the pursuit of noscapine, a novel alkaloid grown in a GSK poppy variety and a new, successful processing system for it mean that farmers will have better choices than before."
Mr Williams said that growers' "relentless arguments" for focus on growing in Tasmania had clearly been listened to.
"While there will still be trials in Victoria, in an era where area required has been shrinking, and most importantly where Tasmania has vastly superior growing conditions, it is heartening to see the company moving in sync with its suppliers and not moving away from us," he said.
"GSK retains its world-class extraction facility in Port Fairy, Victoria, and we are sure that the techniques that it uses for extraction and the quality of its product have clearly established strong relations and commitment from its long-term customers.
"A commitment to excellence means that Tasmanian farmers will still have orders for crop in a time of high stock levels of raw and finished materials in countries that use pain relief products across the community, such as we do in Australia."
Mr Williams also said that there was great optimism for better outcomes in the future with GSK/Sun investing heavily in plant breeding technologies.