On Thursday 7 March 2019, members of the AUSVEG Engagement and Extension team presented at the NT Farmers pre-season meeting, which was held at the Coastal Plains Research Farm in the Northern Territory.

The workshop was delivered to more than 35 growers and industry stakeholders combined, and covered a variety of topics including:

• On-farm biosecurity
• NAQS and DAWR updates
• Agrichemical needs and priorities
• Environmental management on farm
• Vegetable leafminer update
• DrumMuster update
• Water licencing update
• Biological services update
• Area-wide management project update

The workshop was accompanied by an interactive field walk through the research farm’s integrated pest management demonstration plots, where attendees observed a variety of different cover crops and the beneficial insects that were present there.

The Coastal Plains Research Farm takes biosecurity very seriously, so all attendees were asked to walk through a foot bath before and after entering the demonstration plots. Attendees were directed to park outside the facility in the designated visitor parking space.

Overall, the pre-season meeting was very valuable for all who were involved, and attendees were able to develop a greater understanding of current research and development projects operating in the horticulture space.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 19 March 2019. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!