CRC for Plant Biosecurity - biosecurity

Temporal limits to simulating the future spread pattern of invasive species: Buddleja davidii in Europe and New Zealand

Priyanka — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:16:18 +0000

Temporal limits to simulating the future spread pattern of invasive species: Buddleja davidii in Europe and New Zealand

Adaptive Approaches to Biosecurity Governance

Priyanka — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:37:57 +0000

Adaptive Approaches to Biosecurity Governance

Mobile traps are better than stationary traps for surveillance of airborne fungal spores

CRICHTONA — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:51:28 +0000

Mobile traps are better than stationary traps for surveillance of airborne fungal spores

Towards the integration of spread and economic impacts of biological invasions in a landscape of learning and imitating agents

CRICHTONA — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:28:46 +0000

Towards the integration of spread and economic impacts of biological invasions in a landscape of learning and imitating agents

Incorporating uncertainty and social values in managing invasive alien species: a deliberative multi-criteria evaluation approach

CRICHTONA — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:31:38 +0000

Incorporating uncertainty and social values in managing invasive alien species: a deliberative multi-criteria evaluation approach

International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection

CRICHTONA — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:07:04 +0000

The 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection (IWCSPP) was held in Estoril, Portugal, from 27 June to 2 July 2010. This round of IWCSPP attracted nearly 300 delegates representing countries around the globe where stored products protection is an ongoing issue. The conference included eight scientific sessions, seven workshops and 92 posters.

The delegates were welcomed with a session on overviews of stored products research across the continents, where Dr Pat Collins, the Leader of Post-harvest Integrity Program of the CRCNPB, represented Australia. This was an interesting session, which revealed that in recent years there has been significant disinvestment by governments globally in the area of stored products research.

Europe has been the worst-hit, whilst substantial funding is still available for research in countries like Australia and the USA, who are at the forefront in this research area. In the USA, currently the research is focused on pest biology, ecology, monitoring and management in small-scale storages including the flour mills; whereas in Australia the focus is on applied research including pest management in bulk storages.

Among a strong contingent of scientists from Australia, Dr Manoj Nayak represented the CRCNPB and delivered an oral presentation titled ‘Developing strategies to manage highly phosphine resistant populations of flat grain beetles in large bulk storages’. The talk was well received by the international delegates and led to further discussions with scientists from Canada, China and the USA, where this pest has either been established as a major problem or emerging as a new problem.

Papers presented at the conference covered a range of topics including biology, ecology, chemical treatments, alternatives to conventional pesticides and fumigants, non-chemical control methods, pest detection methods, quarantine and regulations in relation to export of commodities.

Dr Nayak found the fumigation session the most relevant to the research he undertakes for the CRCNPB. This session had 20 oral presentations, which included a keynote by Dr Emecki regarding fumigants for commodity protection.

Dr Nayak attended only two of the seven workshops, as some ran concurrently while others were not relevant. Both workshops he did attend focused on analysis of stored-product insect monitoring data and ecological data (movement, distribution etc.). The workshops generated excellent interaction with leading researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), CRCNPB and Canada, where different trapping methods and the critical analysis of the trapping data and decision-making processes were discussed.

Dr Nayak also joined an international research group involving researchers from USA, Czech Republic, Croatia and China aimed at developing molecular diagnostics for identification of stored product psocids around the world. The research will commence from October 2010.

CRC10161: Six degrees of preparation

CRICHTONA — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:57:41 +0000

Program

Preparedness and Prevention

International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection

CRICHTONA — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 03:07:11 +0000

The 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection was held in Estoril, Portugal from 27 June to 2 July 2010, under the auspices of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical and the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon, Portugal.

The aim of the conference was to exchange information on storage from a wide range of agricultural and economic settings, ranging from small farms to large commercial bulk storage and from tropical to temperate climates, and to present innovative solutions to storage problems that are effective, inexpensive, and environmental friendly. The organisers hoped that this conference would help to improve food availability and quality around the world.

Mr Robert Emery attended the working conference and presented on the development and use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and how they were used to support, audit and validate the eradication of the 2007 khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) post-border detection in Western Australia. Robert’s paper was entitled The use of hand-held computers to audit and validate eradication of a post-border detection of khapra beetle in Western Australia.

Robert’s conference paper focused on the development of pest surveillance data collection software and hardware using PDAs to provide auditing, validation, chain of evidence and increase the volume of data collected as well as its integrity through relational databases and seamless data transfer to corporate systems. The system’s first deployment was during a Trogoderma granarium eradication.

The conference program covered the following topics:

around the world – an overview of different regions, reviews of past, present and future directions of research in different regions of the world
biology and monitoring – insects and mites biology, physiology, ecology, modeling and trapping
engineering – grain drying, handling, aeration and chilled air
fumigation – MA, SF, MB, PH3, other gases and resistance
microbiology and mycotoxins – moulds, control of moulds, mycotoxins, contamination and food safety
non- chemical control – biological control, extreme temperatures and organic pest control
residual insecticides – residual insecticides, DE, plant extracts and resistance
integrated pest management practices – methods to prevent, monitor and control pests in warehouses, processing facilities and museums, and
quarantine and regulatory – quarantine pests, control programs, MB alternatives in quarantine, wood packaging and registration of new pesticides.

As part of the conference Robert also attended a field trip visit to Companhia das Lezírias and the Orivárzea Rice Plant (Benavente), which was still partly under construction. Companhia das Lezírias is a state-run agriculture and forestry company located in the Lezíria do Tejo subregion. The company is an ecological sanctuary and peri urban farming area, near Grande Lisboa subregion - the most populated subregion of Portugal. The company produces rice, wine, cork, and livestock, as well as being a reputed horse breeder.

The International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection brought together close to 500 delegates from 27 countries, which provided an excellent opportunity to forge collaborative ties with a range of scientists, consultants, extension workers and industry, who are involved in the safe storage of the world's durable food commodities such as grains, legumes, spices, dried fruits, herbs and animal feed; and non food products such as museum artefacts and wood.

Farmers dedicated to plant biosecurity

K.Scott — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:30:27 +0000

On 21 September, Kununarra producer Lachlan Dobson was announced as the Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award in the plant category at the inaugural Farming Ahead conference in Sydney.

This award was supported by Plant Health Australia (PHA) and provides recognition for producers who implement sound biosecurity practices, inspire other farmers and encourage investment in Australian agriculture.

Lachlan manages the quality assurance and farming processes from produce grown from 120,000 mango trees and 80,000 red flesh grapefruit trees in the Kimberley’s Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA). He has been involved with biosecurity in the ORIA since the 1998 outbreak of Panama disease in the Darwin banana growing area. He was involved in the development of the Western Australian Banana Industry Biosecurity Plan and also the OrdGuard regional biosecurity plan (the first of its type in Australia and the world).

For our overseas readers, Kununurra is the heart of Western Australia’s magnificent Kimberley region. Founded as part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, the town was established in 1963. Currently through this scheme, over 16,000 hectares are irrigated with plans to expand the growing area significantly. Being remotely located at the top of Western Australia, the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) has a privileged biosecurity status and one that local growers want to maintain. Because of the long distances to markets and the associated supply chain costs, growers in the region rely on this status. To lose it, would place a huge financial burden on agricultural businesses in the area, making some of them not viable.

Lachlan is an advocate for taking responsibility for your own biosecurity practices. He believes biosecurity starts on your own farm and growers shouldn’t rely on authorities to implement biosecurity procedures. He wants to share the message that biosecurity can be as simple as locking the farm gates and putting up appropriate signage. He calls this the ‘stepladder’ approach. For example, to reduce biosecurity risks, if the gate is at the back of the property, it’s as simple as placing a padlock on the gate and a sign with contact details. He says, people will get the message.

As part of our Education and Training Program, PhD candidates are required to have both an academic and an industry supervisor. Access to industry experience enables the students to provide industry context to their research and relate it to real life application. Lachlan is the first non-academic supervisor of a PhD project appointed by Charles Darwin University in partnership with the CRCNPB. Lachlan is supervising Mr Paul Royce who has almost completed his theses investigating communication, education and awareness of biosecurity issues within ORIA.

Lachlan also collaborates with Ms Rebecca Zappia on her PhD project which is determining what plant pathogens exist in the irrigation channels of the Ord River region and how their potential movement could impact on biosecurity in the region.

Lachlan was up against some pretty tough competition which is testament to growers who recognise biosecurity as a critical component of their farming practices.

Angus Woods from Woods Pastoral is also dedicated to maintaining good biosecurity practices on his farming component of the larger, Australian agribusiness company, The Woods Group. Woods Pastoral is comprised of four key farms located in the highly productive and premium grain growing region of southern Queensland, just 45km north of Goondiwindi. Angus specialises in the production of cereal and pulse crops into high value markets such as seed for sowing, containerised exports and stock feed. The main crops grown are wheat, sorghum, chickpeas and barley.

“Having a large operation spread across the four properties means we often share machinery and use quite a few different contractors when we plant and harvest the crops,” says Mr Woods.

“We recognised that the size of the enterprise could potentially threaten its biosecurity, via the contamination of seeds and the introduction of pests and diseases on equipment for example.”

In order to safeguard his properties from pests and diseases, Mr Woods developed and implemented his own biosecurity initiative – a Full Traceability and Quality Assurance (FTQA) System.

The other finalist in this category were Peter and Sandra Young who own Birdwood Nursery Fruit Trees, a production nursery situated on 60 acres in Woombye, Queensland. The nursery was initially purpose built by Peter and Sandra to produce avocado trees tested free from root rot disease (Phytophthora cinnamomi).

Birdwood Nursery started operations during 1978, when Peter identified a need across the horticultural industries for high-quality, disease-free fruit trees. Peter and Sandra commenced growing all tree stock under the Avocado Nursery Voluntary Accreditation Scheme (ANVAS), in which they were foundation members. The couple has since attained accreditation from the Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme Australia and EcoHort Certification. During 2009, Peter and Sandra introduced biocontrol agents to the nursery to augment their integrated pest management system.

The CRC congratulates all finalists on being recognised for their commitment to plant biosecurity.

Image caption: Lachlan Dobson shows CRC CEO Dr Simon McKirdy the planned expansion area for the Ord River Irrigation Area.

Global Biosecurity 2010: safeguarding agriculture and the environment conference handbook

K.Scott — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:22:17 +0000

Global Biosecurity 2010: safeguarding agriculture and the environment