By Joanna Prendergast

ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt

Topic: Pest Control

Farmers are fighting a big problem with mice in parts of Australia's grain area.

In short:

Farmers want to use stronger poison to kill mice, but they need a special permit.

The group that controls chemicals says no permits have been given to make stronger poison, and they need strong proof before they can give a permit.

What's next?

Farmers are trying to get more proof so they can get a special permit to make stronger poison.

Farmers in Western Australia are having a big problem with mice, and they say the solution is being slowed down by too much paperwork.

There are about 8,000 mice in every hectare of land in Western Australia's grain area, and you can see big groups of them at night.

Farmers say the current poison is not working, and they need a stronger one.

But the group that controls pesticides is not allowing the stronger poison to be made.

Mouse welfare issue

A farmer named John Warr has a big farm and says a mouse would die faster with stronger poison.

He thinks it's better to kill mice quickly so they don't suffer.

John Warr has never seen so many mice on his farm before.

This is a problem for mice and for people in the country.

In country towns, people can smell mice, and farmers have dead mice in their homes and farms.

Poison bait rejected

Farmers and a group called Grain Producers Australia asked for a special permit to make stronger poison, but it was not given.

They used research from a group called CSIRO, but the pesticide controllers said the research was not good enough.

A farmer is surprised that the controllers are still saying the research is not good enough.

Many mice are being seen in Western Australia's farming area.

A farmer thinks that if the stronger poison is not used, it could cost farmers a lot of money.

Standing by the research

The CSIRO has done research that shows stronger poison is better at killing mice.

A researcher says he believes in the research and it shows that the current poison is not working well.

Mouse activity is a big problem in Australia.

The researcher says that so far, there is no proof that stronger poison hurts birds more.

The pesticide controllers have been asked for a comment.

A group is asking farmers to share their experiences with different types of mouse poison.

The group is trying to get more information to give to the controllers so they can get a special permit.

The group had a special permit in 2021, but now it's being rejected.

They hope that with more proof, they can get the permit and make the stronger poison available to farmers.

Mice are very damaging to crops.

The group is asking farmers to share their experiences with mouse poison on their website.

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