This month has seen Vinehealth Australia participate in a two day expert industry and government panel tasked with reviewing both the Viticulture Industry Biosecurity Plan and Biosecurity Manual for the Viticulture Industry, under the guidance of Plant Health Australia.
The Biosecurity Plan, last published in 2009, provides a framework for biosecurity risk mitigation measures (including exclusion, eradication and control) from risks imposed by exotic and high priority endemic plant pests.
With plant pests continuing to be on the move internationally, we suspect some ratings of pests may increase and that some new pests may be identified for which the Australian viticulture industries will need to be on the look out.
Vinehealth’s current pest poster “If You Spot Me, Report Me!” was developed in response to this work to help raise industry awareness of these pests. Vinehealth will produce a new and improved version of this poster in due course when the updated high priority pest list has been finalised.
We will continue to contribute our resources, where appropriate, to assist Plant Health Australia and the expert panel to refine the content of the Biosecurity Manual to address the needs of grapegrowers and ensure national consistency.