More than 60 producers and agricultural stakeholders attended a meeting called by the Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment department at Beaconsfield on Friday morning and all had questions about the best course of action.

Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm cafe manager Lindi Dornauf said the Elizabeth Town business grew and sold berries and had been dealing with confused customers, particularly Tasmanian tourists.

“People are really not sure about how it affects them, so they’ll often bring it up in conversation and we’re able to say we’ve got a lid on the fruit and we’ve got it in a bag,” Ms Dornauf said.

Point-of-sale signage would alleviate some of the confusion, she suggested.

“We need signage at the point of sale, in the fruit and veggie sections in supermarkets and at the checkout,” she said.

“They are seeing the signs, they know that we’ve got a fruit fly zone, but what does that mean? They don’t understand the economic impact that it’s already having and what it could have into the future.”

Department acting state controller Wes Ford introduced staff available to help producers manage their operations from within the fruit fly control zones, including industry liaison and market access officers.

“This event is now into its fifth week and it started with identification of fruit fly on Flinders Island and identification of fruit fly at Acacia Hills, in the Spreyton area, and more recently, identification of fruit fly in the George Town area,” Mr Ford said.

“As a consequence of the George Town finding, the control zone has extended. It’s a pretty big area and that area has to be managed. There are a whole lot of different treatments.”

Mr Ford also spoke to producers about the support package available to them, for which applications can be made until September, and said staff were delivering fruit disposal bins to control areas.

Primary Industries minister Jeremy Rockliff said it was understandable people had a “lot of questions” about the incursion.

“This is a real challenge for us all with primary producers right across Tasmania, but particularly those in the control zone,” Mr Rockliff said.

“The reason we have these forums is to get everyone together. They can provide practical suggestions to help Biosecurity Tasmania, because the people who are here – the producers – are very practical people. 

“The technical questions are being answered by Biosecurity Tasmania as a group, but every individual property has a different circumstance and so that’s why BT are also there to have one-on-one dialogue,” he said.

Opposition spokesman for primary industries Shane Broad was not at Beaconsfield, but attended a “full briefing” on Thursday with Mr Rockliff and stakeholders, a spokesperson said.

Visit dpipwe.tas.gov.au/fruitfly for more information.