The SARP reports involved a desktop audit and an industry liaison component to assess the importance of plant pests affecting the vegetable industry.

At the start of the project, SARP reports were required for 27 vegetable crops. Later, two groups were removed, Chokos & Fennel leaf, as no specific industry crop data were available for them.

The SARP reports will identify key pest priorities, evaluate the availability and effectiveness of chemical control tools, determine gaps in the pest control strategy and identify suitable new or alternative pesticides to address those gaps. Whilst the outcomes may not be a complete assessment of all pests and control methods, they will prioritise the major pest issues in each vegetable group.

At a time when access to chemicals is getting harder, when certain pests continue to develop chemical resistance, when faced with the ever-present threat of overseas pest entry and when export markets increasingly seek chemical free produce, the industry needs all the information it can get to face these challenges and continue to improve their productivity.

In such a challenging and ever-changing environment, the 25 SARP reports will provide the industry with a blueprint to identify what products are available, what is being lost, what new products are being developed by registrants and what is in the horizon, via minor use permits in the short term and via label extension in the long term, in terms of pest control options.

New opportunities would ideally involve,

• Better IPM strategies,
• Novel biopesticides,
• Improved approaches to pest and disease management (lures, sterile-male pest release techniques and the use of semi-chemicals and ‘softer’ chemicals”).

Collectively, the SARP reports will be a road map for industry stakeholders to plan for pest control in the near future and allocate (levy investment) resources for maximum gains.