Since the beginning of December 2023, we advise that PIRSA has declared three new Queensland fruit fly (Qfly) outbreaks in the Riverland, due to detection of fruit fly larvae and fruit flies.
There are 48 outbreaks being managed by PIRSA, with the earliest possible quarantine release date across the whole fruit fly affected area on 4 April 2024. Based on current management, there is the likelihood that an entire 12-month period without detections must elapse before outbreak restrictions can be lifted.
New Qfly outbreaks declared by PIRSA over the last two months are:
- ‘Loveday’ outbreak declared on 9 January 2024
- ‘Murtho D’ outbreak declared on 20 December 2023
- ‘Lyrup B’ outbreak declared on 18 December 2023
As part of industry assistance, Vinehealth continues to:
- Send advice texts or emails directly to impacted growers shortly after each new outbreak or extension to a current outbreak is declared. If your contact details have changed, please ensure you advise us so we can contact you.
- Maintain current fruit fly maps on our outbreaks webpage to help you visualise the current fruit fly affected areas. We also recommend you view all current fruit fly outbreaks on PIRSA’s interactive fruit fly map, to confirm which fruit fly zone your property is in.
- Act as a conduit between industry and PIRSA around requirements for sending and receiving winegrapes into, out of and within the Riverland. For movement requirement information for both growers and wineries, refer here, and for broader information relating to fruit fly and vintage 2024, refer to the outbreaks webpage above.
Managing unsold winegrapes
If you are in the Riverland and unable to sell some or all of your grapes this vintage, we implore you to take actions to minimise the risk of your crop becoming an unintentional host for fruit fly. You can do this by:
- Dropping fruit onto the ground early in the grape ripening phase so the grapes are less attractive to fruit fly.
- Harvesting during the daytime so sunlight and heat rapidly begin the desiccation process.
- Setting up the harvester to damage the berries as much as possible during the harvesting process.
- Ensuring the dropped berries are spread out on the ground as best as possible (not in large clumps), as this will aid the desiccation process.
For assistance
If you are still uncertain about the options for sending or receiving winegrapes available to your business given your particular circumstances, we advise you to contact PIRSA via the methods below:
- Call the Riverland industry hotline on 1800 255 556
- Call the Fruit fly hotline on 1300 666 010
- Email the Market Access team at marketaccessrenmark.aaslocal@sa.gov.au
Alternatively, please contact Warren Birchmore at Vinehealth Australia by calling 0417 982 970 or emailing warren@vinehealth.com.au.