The Riverina Sustainable Food Alliance says energy workers aren't using adequate biosecurity measures to prevent threats being spread

The highly contagious virus is circulating in nearby Bali and Indonesia and local farmers on high alert to the possibility that Australia could be next.

The Riverina Sustainable Food Alliance is worried that staff entering rural properties for the construction of renewable energy farms and power lines, are not using adequate biosecurity measures to ensure threats are not moved between properties. They're calling on the state government to step in.

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Borambola farmer James Gooden said that if FMD comes to our shores it "will bring the country to a standstill". The ripple effects will spread far beyond agriculture, he said, and if energy companies do not prepare he expects they won't be able to enter rural properties as biosecurity lockdowns will likely be enforced.

Mr Gooden, a livestock farmer, said he recently had a "first hand experience of a biosecurity breach". A company renewing a transmission line cleaned off their dirty machinery, leaving potentially contaminated debris on his property.

It's estimated that an FMD outbreak, could lead to revenue losses of between $49.3 billion and $51.8 billion over a decade.

A spokesperson for Transgrid, who are responsible for the 360km HumeLink energy project from Wagga to Barnaby, said the company takes biosecurity "very seriously".

"This includes measures such as a 'come clean, go clean' approach to landowner property visits, vehicle wash-downs, the use of biosecurity kits and compliance with landowners' specific biosecurity requests," they said.

Spark Renewables' - who are responsible for Bomen Solar Farm - Head of Development Will Stone said they have "robust" protocols in place. "For example, at our operational Bomen Solar Farm we are implementing a screening procedure to identify any international travel undertaken by contractors before they attend site," he said.

Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders is calling for increased biosecurity measures to be implemented at our international airports to prevent FMD entering the country, but on the ground it's everyone's responsibility, he said.

"This week, we announced that we are mobilising a team of expert veterinarians and specialist biosecurity staff to ensure farmers and businesses are in the best position to manage a possible incursion of FMD," he said.

"We encourage farmers and businesses to be overly cautious with people who come onto their properties and have detailed biosecurity plans in place."

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