Biosecurity projects benefit from industry partnerships

Plant Health Australia (PHA) has kicked off a number of biosecurity projects, in collaboration with relevant industry groups. Australia has seen an increased investment in biosecurity with over $400 million in new funding to support reforms to ensure the biosecurity system is able to respond to the growing global threat of exotic pests and diseases.

A new project for the Melon industry aims to strengthen melon growers’ ability to respond and recover from biosecurity incursions as well increasing their understanding of proactive on-farm biosecurity practices. The one-year Melon Industry Extension for Biosecurity project is a joint initiative from PHA and Melons Australia, funded from joint melon industry levy funds. The project will work with growers and agronomists around Australia’s melon growing regions to improve general biosecurity practices. The project will also provide growers with an on-farm biosecurity toolkit, with resources to boost farm hygiene, biosecurity and monitoring practices. Extension workshops are also planned for each of the growing regions. A surveillance component will aim to understand current levels of pest and disease monitoring, better educate growers on surveillance methods, and the benefits of increasing onfarm surveillance for exotic pests and diseases. The project will also consider the melon industry’s understanding of production and supply chain economics in the context of a biosecurity emergency response.

A new five-year national biosecurity program, CitrusWatch, is a collaborative effort that is designed to protect the citrus industry from harmful exotic pests and diseases such as Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri) and huánglóngbìng (HLB). CitrusWatch is funded by Hort Innovation, using the citrus research and development levy, the PHA biosecurity levy and contributions from the Australian Government. The Northern Territory Government’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade and research group, Cesar Australia, will provide surveillance, communication and research support. Led by PHA, with activities coordinated by Citrus Australia, the program aims to expand surveillance, conduct industry training, lead risk assessment and modelling, and improve governance and collaboration. “CitrusWatch is designed to bolster surveillance mechanisms and increase expertise to quickly detect, identify, and address incursions of high priority pests,” said Dr Sharyn Taylor, National Manager Surveillance and Diagnostics at PHA.

AUSVEG Biosecurity coordinator, Callum Fletcher, presenting to a room full of growers in Gympie, QLD in March 2021.

Early detection of an exotic pest means taking early containment or eradication action during an incursion, as was demonstrated in addressing citrus canker. A strong collaboration of industry, government and the community set a new standard in successfully eradicating citrus canker from the Northern Territory and north-west Western Australia. Australia was declared citrus canker free within three years of first detecting the disease. “Australian citrus is a mature export industry with access to most major markets around the world,” said Citrus Australia CEO, Nathan Hancock. “An exotic pest or disease incursion could shut the industry down overnight. We have a strong focus on staying disease and pest free to maintain access to world markets and support our growers.”

The second phase of the AUSVEG Farm Biosecurity Project, a collaboration between AUSVEG and PHA, is well underway and continues to improve preparedness and response capability to manage biosecurity risks for the vegetable and potato industries. The key differentiator in the second phase of the project is the increased focus on the role and importance of urban biosecurity, with emphasis on research, development, and extension programs and farm biosecurity. “Farm biosecurity is often perceived as unnecessary or too complex to implement by plant industries. Since future exotic pest incursions are inevitable, it is crucial to strengthen the resilience of biosecurity practices,” said Dr Mila Bristow, PHA General Manager, Partnerships and Innovation. “A key success factor of the project is to create a better understanding of the shared responsibility to improve industry biosecurity resilience through increased levels of on-farm preparedness measures that can easily be implemented by growers to gain better protection for their crops and livelihoods.” The project also aims to increase biosecurity risk preparedness and response mechanisms by working with industry and governments to strengthen biosecurity awareness and reporting and improve communication of pest issues and threats.