This project has improved on-farm implementation of preventative pest and disease management practices in the greenhouse industry. It was a two year project designed with a focus on the lower technology end of the industry, predominantly in NSW and SA. The project team was split between NSW (Sydney Basin) and SA (North Adelaide Plains). These two regions account for around 900 growers. The total greenhouse industry is estimated to have up to approximately 1350 growers (Biggs, 2004).

Access to practical information and the skills to implement changes on farm remain two of the critical development hurdles in managing pests and diseases and are a key constraint to the effective adoption of integrated pest and disease management in the Australian greenhouse industry. This project was developed by I&I NSW and supported as a subcomponent of the HAL pathology program to address these significant industry development barriers.

To initiate participation and adoption by growers in the short project timeframe, the project used participatory grower groups to develop the general content and format of the manual and activities were conducted within the context of a greenhouse hygiene consultancy program to establish a commercial value for the information.

The project was centred on the development and publication of a comprehensive preventative pest and disease management manual and associated management protocols. A series of participatory grower workshops leading to individual farm practice reviews and the development of actions plans were facilitated by the project team. To further explain key practices, a factsheet series was developed to highlight the ten (10) essential management practices described in the manual.

This comprehensive strategy was used to serve two critical needs. Firstly, to gain early grower participation and establish a degree of ownership of the adoption process and secondly, to create a framework for on-going industry improvement post-project.

Key activities undertaken as part of this project include identification of knowledge gaps and mapping of the farm hygiene review program. The material for the manual was collated, drafted and the farm review protocol was developed.

A key output of this project is the guide to preventative pest and disease management practices for greenhouse growers – Keep it Clean – and a corresponding farm review protocol. The content of the manual was developed by the project team in close consultation with a number of participating greenhouse growers and technical experts. The 147 page document provides comprehensive, yet easy to read information for growers on the key sources of pests and diseases in and around the greenhouse and specific practical information on how to mitigate these sources and quarantine the greenhouse from pests and diseases. Extensive field assessment of existing pest and disease problems and practical management strategies was undertaken to define the 77 preventative management practices described in the manual.

The participating growers also requested more basic information on pests and diseases, life cycles and control strategies. This has been provided without unnecessarily duplicating existing resources by compiling general information of key pests and diseases in the context of a risk assessment and prioritising the recommended preventative management strategies.

A large number of illustrations were prepared for the manual to enhance the communication value of the publication to the broad industry readership.

Integrated with the manual is a farm review protocol. This was developed to provide a consistent process when undertaking the farm reviews and preparing individual farm action plans so that consultants and other industry stakeholders have access to a clear process and resources that have been professionally developed and tested with industry. The farm review, as well as being included in the manual, has also been produced as a stand alone document for all growers and consultants to use as a planning resource.

This project has explored and illustrated a simple, yet demonstrably effective methodology to assisting growers in implementation of recommended practices. The implications for industry are two fold. In the first instance, this project (with the user-friendly resources produced), is enabling growers to review their operations, develop action plans and make real on-ground changes in what can be a complex and potentially expensive area of practical business development.

The second implication of this project is that it has demonstrated that not only is a focus on fundamental practices required to initiate and sustain practice change, but ensuring all research and practice recommendations in all areas of production need to be (and can be) delivered in formats that do not overwhelm or confuse growers eager to make lasting improvements.

The key impact of this project is a more deliberate move towards effective, integrated pest and disease management strategies through adoption of the fundamental practices that have previously been assumed to already be in place. This impact is strongly influenced by the capacity for growers to break down a long list of recommendations and demands on their time and resources and prioritise their implementation for a cost effective outcome.

In the short term (the next few years) this project will result in broader adoption of key preventative management practices that reduce the costs and losses associated with pest and disease management. The majority of growers who participated in this project were already aware of many of these practices, at least in concept, but the importance of small changes in farm management was not readily understood. In addition to this, the capacity for many growers to plan, resource and implement changes was limited but has been enhanced by this work.

Providing a clear list of practices and tools with which to prioritise and plan for implementation has been shown to build the capacity of greenhouse growers to adopt feasible and effective changes.