What was it all about?

From 2018 to 2021, this investment improved and informed pest management across the nursery industry. It had a focus on key areas of plant protection including chemical access, structured crop monitoring and integrated pest and management, and produced information resources for growers, including information on the economic costs and benefits associated with approaches to pest management.

The team worked to understand national and international access to key pesticide groups and products, as well as future pesticide access, and strategies and future alternative product options.

The project implemented a crop monitoring trial across seven key nursery production cropping systems nationwide. The trial considered a range of factors including the costs associated with management of weed, pest and disease, with the following outcomes:

• In a firm endorsement of the value of employing structured crop monitoring in a production nursery, all participants said they would continue to use the process
• All participant nurseries gained improved understanding of the range of pests affecting them, the beneficial organisms that can assist, and the pesticide options required to make production programs work effectively
• There are major benefits in early detection and informed decision making regarding the best integrated pest management strategy to adopt
• Participant nurseries reported significant reductions in losses due to pest and disease issues (c. 12 per cent to 16 per cent) as well as reduced overall pest management costs (some around 10 per cent).

It was noted that a productivity gain can be expected through the adoption of a robust crop monitoring program, with key management plans and supporting materials made available to assist growers with crop management and pesticide use.

The project confirmed the basic principles of the industry plant protection and biosecurity program, BioSecure HACCP, as an effective way to integrate crop monitoring into everyday business activities.

ACT NOW

Find best management practice information and resources on the Australian Plant Protection Standard (APPS) website, including specific Integrated Pest Management (IPM) materials.

Access e-training module How to implement an IPM Management Plan from Greenlife Industry Australia’s eLearning website.

Read these articles about project works, published on the Your Levy @ Work website:

• Putting a price on pest management, February 2019
• Implementing effective IPM using BioSecure HACCP procedures, June 2020
• NY17009 Update: The value in integrated pest management, July 2020