In Senate Estimates hearings today, it was revealed that Australian vegetable growers will be sold out in negotiations with China over a Free Trade Agreement, Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne said today.

"Under questioning, bureaucrats from the international division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry could not explain how low wages, shocking environmental practices and human rights abuses that subsidise Chinese agricultural products will be factored into the FTA negotiations.

"Already Australian farmers cannot compete against a country which has a wages advantage of 35 to 1, weak environmental laws and a free-for-all approach to the use of agricultural chemicals.

"How will this be improved by getting rid of the 4% Australian import tariff under a free trade agreement? This will just make things worse"

"Australian consumers will be horrified to know that locally packaged frozen vegetables they buy contain almost 100% Chinese content. 

"On a recent trip to Tasmania's North West, it was confirmed to me that local growers were largely ignored by the Simplot processing plant in Devonport because the company sources the vast majority of its frozen vegetables from China.  Of the eight or nine veges in a Simplot mixed package, only the cauliflower stalks were locally grown and farmers were feeding the florets to livestock in paddocks less than 10 kilometres from the processing plant.

"Unfortunately, consumers are kept in the dark too because labelling standards are so deficient.  The words "Product of Australia" on a pack of frozen veges only indicates it is processed here, that the packaging is made here and it contains perhaps one locally grown vegetable.

"Tasmanian farmers have been conned before about the so called benefits of free trade agreements.  Signing up to an FTA with China will make local growers even more uncompetitive unless the Rudd Government undertakes to make wages, environmental practice and human rights part of the negotiations.

"To ensure they aren't the victims of unfair trading conditions and tariff reductions, Tasmanian growers and their counterparts in other states need to abandon the processing market and immediately maximise access to the fresh market and value-adding in high value niche markets.  They will need government assistance to do so.

"Australia's vegetable producers come from working families too Mr Rudd."