Last week vegetable farmers, field staff and service providers came together in Ulverstone, Tasmania, to discuss how to recognise critical pathways by which pests, pathogens and weeds can enter farms. The workshop helped participants to identify simple, practical options for mitigating the risks posed by these pathways.

Growers also had the opportunity to try out the Onside app, a digital platform to map farms and record visitor movements. Onside is a useful tool to easily maintain key biosecurity practices, and is currently available for free to vegetable farmers through the levy-funded VegWatch project.

The event, held in Ulverstone, kicked off with a panel discussion featuring farmers who talked about their biosecurity experiences. These included being impacted by a new pest arriving in Tasmania and how this can affect the movement of produce. It covered compliance challenges that arise when trying to implement good practices on farm, as well as measures currently used by some farmers to simplify the introduction of good practices.

Tomato farmer Anthony Brandsema (J&A Brandsema) was affected by the 2018 outbreak of Queensland fruit fly in northern Tasmania. The farm was located close to the exclusion zone which meant that tomatoes needed to be cold stored or fumigated before being sent to market. Tomatoes continue to ripen in cold storage, so this requirement was not an ideal option. In Anthony’s case, fruit was even sent to Melbourne for fumigation before being returned to Tasmania. This is a costly undertaking for any business and can be detrimental to fruit quality and shelf-life. Anthony highlighted the need to have a biosecurity plan in place and implement it for when these unexpected events happen.

‘Put up your hand and say that there is something that needs to change on your property.’

Some farmers have made that change and taken steps to implementing good practices on their farm. For example, Angus Galloway shared that Simplot regularly washes down machinery during harvest periods to reduce the risk of weeds (e.g. oxalis, herbicide resistant ryegrass) and soilborne diseases from spreading between farms. In some cases, where paddocks are heavily infested with weeds, they may not be harvested at all.

The Simplot site also requires visitors to sign in to the plant and abide by rules provided. This approach can sometimes be challenging for smaller businesses. However, technology solutions like the Onside app can help making managing visitors easier – and a pressure washer to clean machinery can go a long way.

Michael Nichols of Redbank Farms, uses Onside to manage visitors and biosecurity practices. Visitors are one of the key pathways by which pests, pathogens and weeds may enter a farm property. One of the common challenges identified during the workshop is the number of entrances to a farm property and the number of visitors – contractors, agronomists, field staff – that might come on any given day, particularly for mixed farming businesses that are contract growing. They do not always enter via the main entrance so that a manual sign in process does not work. The Onside QR code can be installed at each farm entry point and automated sign in is also and option.

The Onside app provides Michael with confidence of knowing who is on the farm and where at any given time. It also provides contact information if he needs to contact them.  Upon check-in, visitors are also presented with a farm map that alerts them to biosecurity, environmental and operational needs and rules. Michael says getting visitors to use the app is one of the biggest challenges and a cultural shift is needed.

Dr Susanna Driessen, Chief Plant Protection Officer for Tasmania also participated in the panel discussion. Dr Driessen and her team at Biosecurity Tasmania become involved in emergency responses if a new pest arrives in Tasmania and other regions of Australia. She reminded everyone of the importance of monitoring, record keeping reporting usual pests, weeds or diseases to Biosecurity Tasmania (1800 084 881 – add it to your contact list now).

In many cases, when a new pest is confirmed, the farm and an area around may be quarantined to contain the pest and preserve the opportunity to eradicate while tracing and monitoring is undertaken to determine how far the pest may have spread. AUSVEG, through the VegWatch program, is exploring the potential for visitor movement data to support tracing in a response and speed up the decision-making processes on eradication or other responses.

This workshop was a joint event organised by Resilient Farming Tasmania, Tasmanian Women in Agriculture, and AUSVEG.

The Farm Business Resilience Program is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Tasmanian Government’s Rural Business Resilience Package, delivered by RMCG and Optimum Standard (https://www.tasfarmingfutures.com.au/resilient-farming-tas). The Vegetable Industry Biosecurity and Business Continuity Strategy (VG22004) is funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government and managed by AUSVEG.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Bicknell, Senior Communications Officer, AUSVEG
Phone: 03 9882 0277, Email: tom.bicknell@ausveg.com.au