Potatoes Australia_June July_2017_Web

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20 | June/July - 2017 | 21
R&D | IPM CASE STUDY |
HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INVOLVED IN THE
POTATO INDUSTRY?
I am a qualified horticulturalist and trained at the University of
Melbourne’s Burnley School of Horticulture. I have been in my
current role with ViCSPA for over 10 years (with a three-year
break a few years ago).
WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE IN THE BUSINESS INVOLVE,
AND WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?
I am a Senior Certification Officer for ViCSPA. My role in the
business involves all facets of seed potato certification. My
district covers eastern Victoria from Kinglake to West Gippsland,
East Gippsland, South Gippsland, Central Gippsland and north-
east Victoria.
NAME: Luke James
AGE: 37
LOCATION: Yarragon, Victoria
WORKS: ViCSPA
(Senior Certification Officer)
COVER ING AL L BASES OF SEED CERTI F ICAT ION
My tasks include potato cyst nematode (PCN) soil sampling,
field crop inspections, leaf sampling, tuber inspections and
various other roles.
Providing training is a significant responsibility – training
other ViCSPA staff as well as interstate and international
certification officers. I recently returned from New Zealand
after conducting certification training for NZ potato inspectors.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING IN
THE POTATO INDUSTRY AND HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN
YOUR ENTHUSIASM?
I enjoy working outdoors and getting dirty, and production
horticulture. The work we do is the basis of the whole potato
production system for Australia and supports trade both
domestically and exports overseas.
My work is very autonomous; on a daily basis, I work by
myself with individual growers but have the support network
of our fantastic office staff and management.
In this role you need to be self-motivated. I have a young
family – Angus, who is three years old and Angelica
(four months) and this is more than enough motivation to
keep your enthusiasm up. But it is always good to see certified
seed that meets the conditions of the scheme and is really
good seed that is produced by professional seed growers.
| YOUNG GROWER PROFILE |
Kangaroo Island’s seed potato industry continues to adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on their farms.
Dr Paul Horne, Angelica Cameron and Jessica Page from IPM Technologies have captured an insight into
the approach from grower Peter Cooper and agronomist David Oddie.
KANGAROO ISLAND POTATO GROWERS CHAMPION
INTEGRATED ADOPT ION
The struggle to control certain pests and diseases in potato crops
led seed growers on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island to enlist the
help of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) entomologists.
“Before using IPM, we were heavily reliant on chemicals,”
Kangaroo Island seed potato grower Peter Cooper explained.
“We sprayed every 10-14 days, using a mixture of soft sprays and
broad-spectrum chemicals, which meant we were killing beneficial
insects and didn’t get the full value out of the softer products.”
This approach was both costly and time-consuming, and it didn’t
provide adequate control of the most important pests of seed potato
crops – the aphids and thrips that vector potato leafroll and tomato
spotted wilt viruses.
Growers and agronomists on the island recognised that this
approach was not working, and in January 2015 they invited Dr Paul
Horne and Angelica Cameron from IPM Technologies to help them
improve their pest management.
A NEW STRATEGY
Starting with a workshop, Paul and Angelica helped the group
develop an IPM strategy involving biological, cultural and chemical
controls that were all compatible and would deal with the full range
of pests. At the end of the workshop, several growers agreed to trial
the strategy with the help of agronomists Derrick Cameron and
David Oddie from DJ’s Grower Services.
During the next season, Derrick and David provided regular
monitoring, support and advice, backed by additional expert advice
from IPM Technologies as required. According to David, ready
access to practical advice from experienced IPM specialists gave
growers the confidence to try something new and unfamiliar. The
trials were a success and achieved excellent control of insect pests
with only minimal use of soft selective insecticides. No broad-
spectrum products were applied during the life of the crops.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE
In January 2016, Peter hosted a field day for local growers to
showcase the success of his trial to other growers on the island.
Seeing the success of the initial demonstration trials first-hand gave
other local seed growers the confidence to try IPM for themselves.
In the 2016-17 season, the majority of the island’s seed potato
growers implemented IPM across their farms, and David expects
that soon the entire Kangaroo Island seed potato industry will have
adopted IPM.
While potato growers on the island were initially sceptical about
IPM, they have now seen it work and understand what is involved.
“Like most farmers, we used to think IPM was about not spraying
and just hoping for the best,” Peter said.
“Now we know it is all about understanding good and bad insects
and the effects of different chemicals on those insects. We still use
insecticides when we need to, but we are more careful about the
products we use, making sure the good insects can still help protect
our crops.”
The experience of growers on Kangaroo Island demonstrates that
IPM can give better results even in an industry where tolerance of
insect pests and associated insect-vectored diseases is very low.
CURRENT PROJECT
IPM Technologies is currently funded by the potato and onion
industries to demonstrate the value of IPM through the Horticulture
Innovation Australia-commissioned project MT16009 – An IPM
Extension Program for the Potato and Onion Industries.
This project brings the IPM Technologies extension model used
on Kangaroo Island to all the major potato and onion production
regions around Australia. Paul, Angelica and Jessica Page will deliver
IPM workshops, field training and one-on-one support for growers
and agronomists to trial IPM. They will also help growers and
agronomists prepare to manage tomato-potato psyllid within an
IPM strategy.
IPM Technologies invites potato growers and agronomist to participate in
MT16009. For more information about the project, please contact Dr Paul
Horne and his team on 0419 891 575 or email .
An IPM Extension Program for the Potato and Onion Industries has been
funded by Horticulture Innovation Australia using the onion, fresh and
processing potato research and development levies and funds from
the Australian Government.
Project Number: MT16009
INFO
Angelica Cameron from IPM Technologies
monitors an IPM potato crop on Kangaroo Island.