What is it all about?

This investment is generating new knowledge and providing innovative tools to predict, monitor and control diseases in macadamia. By equipping the macadamia industry with the knowledge and tools needed to manage diseases, this project will deliver significant medium to long-term outcomes to the industry, including increased harvest yield, minimised costs and reduced environmental impacts.

The project is deepening understanding of macadamia diseases, pathogen-pathogen interactions, and the broader impact of the environmental factors on pathogen pressure. To this end, a component of the project is capacity building by training three PhD students and upskilling macadamia growers and agronomists.

The project is also delivering national research and extension activities for growers and other industry stakeholders to minimise the impact of diseases across the major macadamia growing regions in Queensland and NSW.

The key activities of this program are:

• Undertaking scientific studies to address gaps in knowledge on the biology and epidemiology of key priority and emerging diseases.
• Developing innovative tools and control options to manage the diseases in an integrated system in macadamia.
• Building capacity through the involvement of high-degree research students.
• Providing pathology expertise for the industry and other research programs and supporting growers with disease diagnostic capability.
• Disseminating integrated disease management information to upskill growers and crop consultants.