The Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) program is driving biosecurity activity in the Riverland, according to Charles Matheson, Riverland Wine’s Grower Engagement Officer.
“About 50% of growers in the region, by tonnes grown, are accredited for SWA and over the next year or two, the bulk of the Riverland grape community, which is over 900 vineyard blocks, will be on the way to being SWA certified. That’ll make a huge dent in driving biosecurity action in the Riverland,” Charles said.
“We’ve got two more SWA workshops at the end of July and when that’s done, we’ll have trained 90 growers this month alone.”
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia is Australia’s national program for grapegrowers and winemakers to continuously improve their sustainability in the vineyard and winery. The program, which is managed by the Australian Wine Research Institute, includes a module on vineyard biosecurity, which was developed with assistance from Vinehealth Australia.
“Through the SWA program, growers in the Riverland are being encouraged to put up signs, set up visitor registers, and monitor entry into vineyards,” Charles said.
“The program includes an audit to ensure growers are doing the right thing, and while the big stick approach isn’t always the right one, if you want to sell your grapes, you’ve got to tick the SWA boxes. Growers in the Riverland realise that it’s a market must-have.
“Because SWA is linked to grape sales, it’s driving biosecurity action in the Riverland.”
Putting up signage is the first step, which tells people to ring the vineyard manager before they enter. Growers are also setting up visitor registers to capture the details of visitors to their vineyard.
“The fruit fly outbreak complicates this to a degree, as PIRSA fruit fly inspectors need to enter properties to check baits and we understand this needs to be done to control the fruit fly outbreak,” Charles said.
“But growers are concerned about the potential of weeds being spread by fruit fly vehicles. Ideally, fruit fly inspectors would leave their vineyards in a designated parking area outside of the vineyard, and a farm vehicle would drive them around.”
Charles said a positive outcome for vineyard biosecurity in the Riverland was a move away from regional ‘farm-shed’ style meetings, to meetings in towns.
“We’ve moved to footy clubrooms and similar locations for our regional meetings, as they are more centrally located and more convenient in terms of Wi-Fi and access to presentation facilities and catering,” he said.
“This hasn’t been done for biosecurity reasons, but it has a biosecurity benefit as it means that large groups of people aren’t coming onto vineyard properties with potentially weed seeds or pathogens on their vehicle tyres or shoes.”
Charles said biosecurity activities such as fencing were challenging in the Riverland due to the number of smaller, interjoining properties.
“The Riverland is semi-unique as there are a lot of properties with adjoining boundaries and no delineating fence or means of exclusion because many vineyard headlands are shared between property owners and there are multiple points of entry,” he said.
“There are more than 500 growers in the region with less than 10 hectares. Most of them are about five hectares on average and most growers work off-farm, which makes biosecurity and farm-gate hygiene difficult to manage on these properties.
“On the positive side, most vineyards in the Riverland are relatively isolated and therefore lower risk in terms of visitor entry, except for the ones on the main road. The fencing of vineyards on main roads is the bigger priority.”