Vinehealth Australia Technical Assistant Warren Birchmore attended a Corteva Agrisciences tree and vine market focus team meeting in Adelaide in June.
The Corteva team includes regional representatives from South Australia as well as central Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The small group of nine were informed of some biosecurity basics when visiting vineyards.
Some simple planning tools include:
- Plan your touring route to start in a Phylloxera Exclusion Zone (PEZ) then into a Phylloxera Risk Zone (PRZ) and finish in Phylloxera Infested Sones (PIZ). This will reduce the risk of spreading phylloxera if starting in a PIZ.
- Park vehicles in designated car parks and use vineyard manager/owner vehicles to travel within the vineyard rather than using visitor vehicles through vineyards.
- Ensure visitors sign in upon arrival and sign out at departure. This ensures any track and trace records are accurate should they be needed.
- Make sure footbaths are used and ask to use a footbath if they are not visible.
- Phylloxera can survive for 29 days off vines, so avoid reentering a vineyard after visiting a PIZ vineyard.
- Be conscious of travelling to international vineyards where phylloxera is typically present and managed with resistant and tolerant rootstocks. The overseas vineyards may not be advertising the presence of phylloxera, as control and containment are not possible there.
The Corteva team were informed of the phylloxera research being undertaken by Agriculture Victoria Research and it piqued their interest for possible solutions.
Implications of a phylloxera outbreak were shared, as seen in the Maroondah PIZ in Victoria, which raised some eyebrows, especially if an outbreak was to occur in South Australia where 71% of plantings remain on own roots and are susceptible to phylloxera.
While phylloxera is front of mind, it is not the only pest or disease raising biosecurity concerns. It is always good practice to monitor for developing industry issues and contact vineyard staff before entering vineyards.
