article_snippet: Roughly 70 percent of strawberries grown in Australia are being treated with a pesticide that is supposed to have been banned across the world because it depletes the ozone layer.
article_snippet: Nine strawberry growers in Victoria's Yarra Valley are still using methyl bromide to fumigate crops, despite methyl bromide being banned by the United Nations Montreal Protocol more than two decades ago, the ABC reports.
article_snippet: Roughly 70 percent of strawberries grown in Australia are being treated with a pesticide that is supposed to have been banned across the world because it depletes the ozone layer .
article_snippet: But the Victorian growers, who produce 100 million strawberry runners a year, are still using almost 30 tonnes of a pesticide that is supposed to have been banned across the world because it depletes the ozone layer annually.
article_snippet: the Victorian growers, who produce 100 million strawberry runners a year claim alternatives would drive business into the ground and cost 15,000 jobs, so the Victorian growers, who produce 100 million strawberry runners a year regularly apply for a critical use exemption from the United Nations.
article_snippet: Growers suggest Growers costs could soar by 500 percent if Growers were to stop using the pesticide, which could see a punnet of strawberries soar to more than $10.
article_snippet: The Victorian farms still using methyl bromide - who are part of the Toolangi Certified Strawberry Runner Growers' Cooperative - said the industry had spent $700,000 on research to find alternatives to the pesticide. '
article_snippet: alternative treatments used in other parts of Australia said banning it would mean consumers have less availability to strawberries and more berries would be imported - implying the health standards may not be the same as in Australia.
article_snippet: Nine strawberry growers in Victoria's Yarra Valley are still using methyl bromide to fumigate crops, despite methyl bromide being banned by the United Nations Montreal Protocol more than two decades ago .
article_snippet: Victorian growers, who produce 100 million strawberry runners a year, are still using almost 30 tonnes of the pesticide annually .
highlights_snippet: Nine Victorian strawberry farms treat crops with methyl bromide pesticide .
  
highlights_snippet: Nine Victorian strawberry farms was banned by United Nations in 1989 because Nine Victorian strawberry farms deplete ozone layer .
  
highlights_snippet: Growers are still using almost 30 tonnes of pesticide each year .
  
highlights_snippet: Growers claim alternatives will cripple industry, forcing prices to $10 a punnet .