Shielding the vegetable industry from exotic pests

Australia’s vegetable industry will receive an new level of protection against exotic pests through a $10 million levy-funded collaborative biosecurity strategy.

The Hort Innovation investment will help to build the vegetable industry’s resilience to exotic pest threats through the creation of an industry-led biosecurity program that will strengthen pest surveillance, preparedness and management efforts.

AUSVEG will lead the Vegetable Industry Biosecurity and Business Continuity Strategy with support from Plant Health Australia and state and territory biosecurity and research agencies.

Brett Fifield, Hort Innovation Chief Executive Officer, said the program aimed to boost response capabilities and limit the impact of incursions.

According to Fifield, a new incursion has historically meant that farming properties are quarantined, preventing growers from moving produce off-farm and fulfilling contracts.

“A key aspect of this new vegetable industry biosecurity strategy is the development of protocols that enable movement of produce and swift reinstatement of market access,” Fifield said.

Stuart Grigg, Victorian vegetable grower and agronomist, said Australia’s position as an island nation should not lead to complacency.

“It’s important our industry is at the forefront of understanding international exotic issues, being informed and prepared with best management practices should they be quickly required, while maintaining strong border controls,” Grigg said.

Michael Coote, AUSVEG Chief Executive Officer, said the program represents a major step forward in Australia’s preparedness in the face of an ever-increasing threat from exotic pests.

“The growing pressure on Australia’s biosecurity demands the kind of flexible, proactive response that this new program can deliver,” Coote said. “Using the latest monitoring techniques and with close collaboration between industry and government, this new program will offer the greatest possible protection to growers, industry, trade and regional communities.”

The next-level biosecurity strategy includes:

• A contingency fund for industry responsiveness to unanticipated threats, providing an adaptable, flexible approach to preparing for high-priority exotic pests.
• Demonstrations of robust, audited on-farm biosecurity practices by growers to foster reassurance and trust within grower communities and multi-level government and non-government groups.
• Developing protocols to facilitate produce movement and the swift reinstatement of market access.
• A comprehensive communications and extension program across growers, agronomists and consultants.

Strengthening the industry’s readiness for existing and emerging threats through breakthrough research and collaborating with industry to bolster resilience and safeguard supply are strategic imperatives set out in Hort Innovation’s Strategy 2024–26.