Victorian farmers have legally started growing poppies, as licences have just been approved.

Australia's third largest poppy producer, TPI Enterprises, has secured the first commercial licence to distribute poppy seeds to farmers.

The head of TPI, Jarrod Ritchie, says around 50 farmers across the state can now begin planting, ending Tasmania's poppy monopoly.

“We’ve started sowing on one of our larger paddocks, which is around 90 hectares, up in the Boort region (north-west Victoria), so that’s underway, if not completed, as we speak.”

TPI is the first of Australia’s existing poppy companies to have crops commissioned in Victoria.

Mr Ritchie expects growers will harvest between 800 and 1,000 hectares in February next year, stepping up to 4,000 hectares next season.

"Look, at a farm gate value, assuming 10,000 hectares as an industry, we're talking potentially around the $40-50 million growing alone.

"This gives us the confidence to take more orders to continue investing in infrastructure, new jobs to continue to meet the growing demand." Listen Duration: 5 minutes 58 seconds 5 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Head of TPI Enterprises, Jarrod Ritchie, says poppies will be a booming part of the Victorian farming landscape ( James Jooste ) Download 2.7 MB

The company finished lengthy negotiations with the Department of Environment and Primary Industry to secure poppy supply out of Victoria.

Tasmania is currently the world’s largest producer of narcotic raw material, providing half of the global supply for pain relief products, morphine and codeine.

Mr Ritchie says having half of the world’s supply of poppies open to seasonal variations is not responsible practice.

He says cropping in Victoria will remove the risk of failing to meet global supply in pharmaceutical markets.

“We had a high risk of failing to meet our supply obligations, so we needed to diversify our growing areas to mitigate that risk.”

President of the Tasmanian Poppy Growers Association Glynn Williams says they will continue the fight against poppies being grown interstate. Listen Duration: 6 minutes 54 seconds 6 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Glynn Williams President of the Tasmanian Poppy Growers Association talks about the reality of poppies being grown in Victoria. ( Tony Briscoe ) Download 3.2 MB

Glynn Williams has denied the Association is trying to protect a monopoly on the crop and says it's important for security reasons to have the crop grown in one state.