Farmers are warning the Victoria-NSW border closure will bring farms to their knees and could cause stock deaths.
State premiers announced the closure of the NSW-Victoria border as part of an effort to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne.
The border last closed 100 years ago, due to the Spanish Flu.
Farmer Robert Belcher, who owns farms on both sides of the border, said it would create "hell on earth".
"It's a catastrophe for me because I've got animals on both sides of the border that I've got to look after," Mr Belcher said.
"Alright, it's a pandemic, but can (the governments) get their act together so that we don't have innocent animals dying and people's businesses crashing through the floor?"
Agriculture must be considered 'an essential service'
Victorian Farmers Federation Vice President Emma Germano said systems were needed to keep food production going.
"We've got people on that border that have farms on both sides; and there's the movement of people and goods that happens across all these borders in Australia," Ms Germano said.
"We were calling for ag to be considered an essential service from when the first lot of border [closures] were put in place," she said.
"So hopefully common sense prevails there and we'll go back to that first principle ... the fact we need to keep food and the industry that produces food running smoothly."
Mr Belcher has farms at Bonang in Victoria and Berridale in NSW.
He said the situation was further complicated by the drought, which continues to affect his properties.
"If you live on a border it means bugger all, except what number plates you've got. Your community has this line that goes through it that doesn't mean much else except who you pay tax to," Mr Belcher said.
The NSW Government has announced measures to provide permits for Victorians in exceptional circumstances to cross the border.
But Mr Belcher is concerned about the time it'll take for these to be issued.
Travel plans disrupted
The closure has also disrupted the travel plans of those who work in the agriculture industry.
Yochay Ezrony is visiting Australia on a working holiday visa from Israel, and has recently finished working on a dairy farm near Wonthaggi in Victoria's Gippsland region.
He said working on farms in Australia for three months would allow him to extend his stay to two years.
With the farm work completed, he was looking forward to travelling to continuing his travels in NSW.
"That was my plan when I arrived in Australia … (but there) was too many fires and it was too warm for me to enjoy travelling so that's why I stayed here in Wonthaggi," Mr Ezrony said.
"It's very important for me to cross the border."
