Since our April E-news fruit fly update there have been 2 Queensland fruit fly outbreaks declared, ‘Renmark West B’ and ‘Cooltong B’, taking the tally to 42 current outbreaks being managed by PIRSA.
In the next month, PIRSA’s focus moves towards framing its next 6 months of operations with affected industries in the Riverland, as it continues a push towards fruit fly eradication. Any significant impacts on grapegrowers or winemakers from this next phase of work, will be communicated in due course.
Given this is our final fruit fly update for V23 as vintage has come to a close for another year:
- We note that at present, the earliest possible fruit fly quarantine release date is currently at 22 December 2023.
- we advise growers and winemakers that with SA’s current fruit fly management model, you should presume that the same requirements for sending and receiving winegrapes will hold for V24, unless advised otherwise
- Vinehealth has now ceased posting new fruit fly outbreak maps to our website and advising individual growers of changes to quarantine boundaries.
- We have amended our current outbreaks fruit fly webpage to indicate that PIRSA’s interactive fruit fly map should be visited to stay abreast of changes to fruit fly boundaries between now and October.
- Vinehealth plans to resume active fruit fly updates in late October to support industry and PIRSA. This will include:
- liaising with PIRSA to assist wineries to understand options for management of rejected winegrapes sourced from fruit fly quarantine areas
- advising Riverland growers of which fruit fly quarantine zones are applicable to their vineyards (in lieu of changes between May and October)
- reminders for growers and wineries on movement requirements applicable for V24
If you have any operational feedback from V23 you wish to provide in relation to fruit fly, please don’t hesitate to contact Vinehealth’s Technical Manager Suzanne McLoughlin, either via email: suzanne@vinehealth.com.au or by phone on 0412 859 882.