New quarterly update for AUSVEG agrichemical prioritisation project

AUSVEG Project Coordinator – Agrichemical Pest Management Needs and Priorities Patrick Arratia has released his second quarterly industry update on the work he’s undertaking as part of the strategic levy investment VG16060 Vegetable agrichemical pest management needs and priorities.

This update includes a list of past and future workshops that are being coordinated to engage and consult with industry members about their pest priorities, as well as a summary of the on-the-ground work Patrick has undertaken around the country to discuss regional pest and disease issues growers and agronomists.

For more information on Patrick’s project, or to discuss your agrichemical pest management needs and priorities, contact him at patrick.arratia@ausveg.com.au or by phone at 03 9882 0277.

We also encourage all growers and agronomists to get involved in the project by filling out our crop-specific surveys to help Patrick gather pest, disease and weed information for use in the prioritisation process.

Hort Innovation projects renew important permits and enable new label registrations

A number of different projects have been funded by Hort Innovation to improve agrichemical access for growers by renewing important minor use permits and generating data to support new label registrations.

These projects are enabling the extension of over 20 minor use permits and generating data to support more than a dozen new label registrations for a wide range of vegetables over the coming years to help you manage your pest and disease issues. Some of these projects are also generating data to support other sectors of horticulture.

For a full breakdown of these projects and the permits being supported by these levy investments, you can read Hort Innovation’s March 2018 update on projects covering vegetable Minor Use permits and label registrations.

Summary of regulatory issues and chemical reviews

There are a wide range of chemical reviews and other regulatory concerns that affect the Australian vegetable industry, as well as the broader horticulture industry.

If you’re interested in a summary covering the key issues and concerns in this space, both in Australia and overseas, take a look at Hort Innovation’s latest agrichemical update.

This update covers a number of important issues affecting our industry, including:

  • Regulatory reform around off-label use harmonisation in Australia, including a framework in which a grower of a minor crop could apply a pesticide off-label without the need for regulatory approval.
  • New registrations and label extensions in recent months, including insecticides and fungicides for leafy vegetables, brassicas, fruiting vegetables and cucurbits
  • International reviews of chemicals.

Click here to read this update.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 20 March 2018.