Biosecurity

Queensland’s intensive animal industries have released a 10-year roadmap that sets a clear and collaborative pathway for future growth, resilience, and sustainability across the sector, while supporting food security for Queenslanders and Australia.

The Fruity (and Nut) Farmer. Let me start by saying this: macadamia nuts are not just nuts. They are the Beyoncé of nuts. Beautiful, bouncy, nicely rounded, high-maintenance, and fully aware that they're better than you ... nothing has ever judged me harder than a macadamia tree.

Tasmania's peak body for farmers says fears of a new biosecurity incursion have been realised after the Tasmanian Government announced the detection of the potato mop-top virus in the state's North West. The mop-top virus is a plant disease that affects the leaves, shoots, and tubers of potato plants...

AUSVEG is alerting growers and industry stakeholders to the detection of Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) in Northwest Tasmania. This marks the first time this virus has been found in Australia.

Agriculture Victoria is urging farmers to be mindful of import requirements and to keep watch for red imported fire ants (RIFA) when sourcing fodder from interstate. Agriculture Victoria acting Chief Plant Health Officer, Stephen Dibley, said RIFA - or Solenopsis invicta - is one of the worst invasive ant species in Australia.

An Australian grape-export company was fined more than a million dollars last week for deliberately trying to bypass controls to export table grapes to New Zealand. The Grape House Pty Ltd pleaded guilty on 3 June to 6 counts of making false representations with the intention of dishonestly influencing a Commonwealth Official.

Since 2023, the Clarence River prawn trawl industry has been on its knees, with fishermen locked out of their livelihoods due to a White Spot Control Order costing countless millions in income. White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) was detected by the NSW Department of Primary Industries DPI in August 2022 at a Palmers Island prawn farm…

A woman who illegally misdeclared a package as lingerie and shoes when it really held 57 cacti and succulents has been convicted. Kirsten Mae Fearn pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to 14 biosecurity charges on Friday 25 July.

While politicians and activists agonise over the merits of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, a far more insidious war rages on — not between nations, but between species. It’s the war we barely talk about, yet one we’re losing badly: the war against invasive pests. From farmland to forest, the frontlines are everywhere, and the casualties aren’t measured in headlines but in trees, crops, ecosystems — and billions of taxpayer dollars.