As part of the strategic levy investment project Vegetable Agrichemical Pest Management Needs and Priorities (VG16060), AUSVEG’s Patrick Arratia is visiting growers around the country to speak with them about their plant pest and disease concerns.

Last week Patrick visited key growing regions in Queensland, including Kalbar, Gatton and the greater Lockyer Valley. While in the region he spoke with growers and agronomists about their agrichemical needs, with particular focus on major crops like carrots, sweetcorn, beans, brassicas and leafy vegetables.

In coming weeks Patrick will be visiting farms in the Sydney Basin in New South Wales, and Hobart and Devonport in Tasmania. He’ll also be hosting a consultation workshop for Tasmanian growers on 14 February 2018.

If you want to contribute to the project, please take the time to fill out AUSVEG’s National Pest Survey. Like Patrick’s work talking to growers, answers to these online crop-specific surveys will ensure the project delivers value back to the industry by generating information that can be used to direct R&D funding for crop protection purposes. The more information that’s gathered through the surveys, the better the project will be able to identify vegetable growers’ agchem needs!