Last week, the Victorian Vegetable Innovation Days 2023 (VicVID) showcased a range of seed, fertiliser and agchem trials and around 20 marquees of other supply chain exhibitors.

While field days are an excellent opportunity to interact and learn about the latest innovations, they draw many people from all across industry and increase the risk of the introduction and spread new pests, weeds and diseases. It can also increase the risk of the unwanted hitch hikers taken back to regions and farms.

To protect and prepare the site, VicVID hosts, Butler Market Gardens trialled the Onside platform over the last couple of months to manage visitor check-in, biosecurity and health and safety. The AUSVEG Biosecurity team asked attendees to follow on-farm biosecurity best practice by using boot scrubbers and walking through footbaths, and check in using Onside which recorded all visitors onto the site.

The AUSVEG Biosecurity team, together with Onside, saw a total of 537 people register using the platform as they walked through footbaths at the entrance of the event. According to Onside, VicVID gave the app an opportunity to test its capacity and was the most people they’ve ever had checked into a single site in one day using the technology.

VicVID participant entering the field days using the foot bath

Foot baths at the VicVID entry point, manned by AUSVG and Onside