Biosecurity

Kristin Murdock. Biosecurity is a buzzword in the agricultural industry, now more than ever with the recent threat of foot and mouth disease and an infestation of varroa mite affecting bees in New South Wales. Vineyards are just as vulnerable to risks and with that in mind, Willo Brown from Oparina Wines in Padthaway has put his university IT skills to good use creating an app called myVineyard.

Chris Oldfield. Red biosecurity signage will soon mushroom on many farm entrances across the SE, along with wash down facilities for visitors – vets, various contractors, shearers, trucks and stock agents. Even friends and relatives visiting farming families will be required to fill out details about where they have been, and where they will go next.

After more than six years of multi-disciplinary research, the Q Fever Group ... has released the findings of its flagship research project,  Taking the Q (query) out of Q fever. The project findings fell into three broad themes; improving knowledge and management of Q fever in dairy goat herds; understanding Q fever in the environment; and structures to support Q fever management across the human, animal and environmental health sectors.

There is no better time than now. Australian agriculture is primed and ready to take on the next five years with a strong sense of purpose, determination, and excitement for the possibilities that lie ahead.

It’s  been nearly two years since  fall armyworm was  first  detected in Australia, and in that time  the  pest  has made its presence felt. With the ability to travel vast distances of up to 100 kilometres overnight, and an appetite for summer crops, the fall armyworm can devour large quantities of crops  – including ginger – in  a matter of days.  

Rising input costs combined with fears of a foot and mouth disease incursion have weighed heavily on optimism in Australia’s farm sector in the latest quarter, according to the Rabobank Rural Confidence survey. Despite extraordinary strength in farm balance sheets and the overall health of the sector following more than two years of high rainfall and exceptional commodity prices, more farmers now believe conditions are set to worsen over the year ahead rather than improve.

Kristin Murdock. While foot and mouth disease (FMD) remains active in Indonesia, officials there say they hope to bring the outbreak under control by the end of the year thanks to a rollout of vaccinations. The country’s FMD Task Force spokesperson, Professor Wiku Adisasmito, said there had been more than 450,000 cases of FMD confirmed or suspected across 22 of the country’s 37 provinces.

An elite stable of dedicated Post Entry Quarantine officers is ensuring some of the world’s most valuable shuttle stallions are happy, healthy – and won’t pose a biosecurity risk while on stud duties in Australia. The 55 horses – hailing from Europe, Japan, the USA and Canada, and worth a combined $450 million – have touched down in Australia for the Southern Hemisphere Thoroughbred breeding season.

The resistance of  green peach aphid (Myzus persicae,  GPA)  to numerous chemical mode of action groups makes it an ongoing management challenge. In Australia, GPA has evolved resistance to synthetic pyrethroids, carbamates, organophosphates, neonicotinoids, and quite recently, to sulfoxaflor. And now, Australian researchers have found populations of GPA with resistance to spirotetramat, the active ingredient in Movento ® 240 SC Insecticide, as well as several generic products containing the same active ingredient.