Last September, a leaked email revealed the National Farmers’ Federation had directed members to stay silent about the putative health risks from paraquat, a widely used herbicide. Some farmers rebelled. Among them was Mirboo North grower and grazier Emma Germano, who was then the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation.
Germano broke ranks with the NFF to support the farmers who’d been vilified for speaking out about clusters of Parkinson’s disease, which they believed to be linked to paraquat use on farms. (Manufacturer Syngenta, which has partnerships with NFF, denies any link.)
