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Plant Protection News - October 2008
An email newsletter from the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer.
In this issue:
- Program to improve biosecurity in horticulture
- Progress towards implementing a National Fruit Fly Strategy
- Improving diagnostic capability in horticulture program commences
- Increasing capacity for on-farm biosecurity planning program commences
- Preliminary findings from the Community Detectives project
- Remote microscopy project to improve fruit fly identification
- Two Australian National Diagnostic Protocols completed
- Methyl Bromide Alternatives Information System is live
To subscribe to this email newsletter, go to Free Subscriptions, check the 'Plant Protection News' box and follow the instructions provided. Previous issues of the newsletter are at available at Plant Protection News.
Program to improve biosecurity in horticulture
As a part of its Quarantine Research and Preparedness Plan, the Government has invested $5.4 million over four years to improve biosecurity in horticulture.
The Australian Government will work with the horticulture sector to:
- implement a National Fruit Fly Strategy
- increase diagnostic capability, and
- commence planning to increase capacity for on-farm biosecurity plans.
Each of these areas contributes to improved biosecurity arrangements to reduce the impacts of pests and diseases on production in the horticulture sector.
The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO) within the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is administering the program.
OCPPO is collaborating with other organisations to administer and deliver the program and its activities, including: Plant Health Australia, the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity, and primary industry agencies in the states and territories.
Further information about the three areas of the program is provided below.
Progress towards implementing a National Fruit Fly Strategy
Funds under the Australian Government's election commitment will be used over four years program to contribute to implementing a National Fruit Fly Strategy (NFFS) for Australia’s horticulture industry.
Once implemented, the NFFS will result in a viable, cost-effective and sustainable approach to management of all fruit flies, the world’s most economically significant horticultural pest. This is critical to maintaining the reputation of Australian produce and continued access to important international markets.
OCPPO has already commissioned work this year on the following four activities:
- stocktake of a national diagnostic capability and capacity for exotic fruit flies
- development of national diagnostic protocols for exotic and native fruit flies
- consolidation of contingency plans for native and exotic fruit flies, and
- contribution to the costs of establishing a NFFS Implementation Committee (Secretariat support provided by Plant Health Australia).
The NFFS Implementation Committee will develop an implementation plan and negotiate funding arrangements that include contributions from government and industry.
The NFFS has been developed through the combined efforts of Australian governments and the horticulture industry, coordinated by Plant Health Australia.
Key elements of the strategy are:
- optimising early detection and response to minimise the impact of fruit flies
- managing fruit flies by effective and efficient use of tools, technology and people to define, maintain or modify the fruit fly status of an area to support trade and production
- raising awareness of biosecurity generally and fruit fly specifically, and
- establishing and maintaining an intelligence network that imparts information to target risks and threats and supports the risk analysis process.
For more information contact Lois Ransom (OCPPO) on telephone +61 2 6272 4888 or Nicholas Woods (Plant Health Australia) on telephone +61 2 6260 4322.
Fruit Fly website (The National Fruit Fly Strategy and Priorities Project)
Improving diagnostic capability in horticulture program commences
A three year program to increase Australia’s diagnostic capability for emergency plant pests (EPPs) of concern to the horticulture sector recently commenced.
OCPPO is managing the Government's investment in the program which focuses largely on increasing expertise of the next generation of plant pest diagnosticians.
OCPPO expects that the program will boost Australia’s capacity to accurately and quickly diagnose EPPs detected in the country. This capacity will help plant health officials to respond more rapidly to incursions of EPPs, reducing the cost of the response and minimising negative impacts on crop production and trade markets.
The program for the 2008-09 financial year will include:
- ten individual EPP diagnostic training scholarships for application by diagnosticians throughout Australia
- eight to ten nationally agreed diagnostic protocols and tools to be commissioned for specified EPPs to address gaps in Australia’s capability
- two to three national and regional diagnostic training workshops to allow diagnosticians to learn new techniques and extend their knowledge of particular high risk EPPs, and train others in pest identification
- a diagnostic capacity building project on exotic thrips which are pests of a range of horticultural commodities, and
- enhancement of content in the Pest and Disease Image Library (PaDIL) through the development of quality measures for the diagnostic and field based images of the plant pests contained in the system.
The program will continue to develop diagnostic skills of individuals and groups of diagnosticians in regional laboratories. It will do this by increasing expertise around EPPs using the full range of diagnostic tools and technologies available in Australia.
This program builds upon previous investments made by the Australian Government, including its Securing the Future Program.
For more information contact Jacek Plazinski (OCPPO) on telephone +61 2 6272 4334.
Increasing capacity for on-farm biosecurity planning program commences
Engaging regional communities in on-farm biosecurity issues may soon get easier.
As a part of the Government's $5.4 million investment over four year to improve biosecurity in the horticulture industry, a program to improve on-farm biosecurity planning has begun.
The program seeks to engage farmers and their neighbours in building better biosecurity to protect their local industries by enhancing the capacity of regional communities and farmers to recognise, anticipate and manage exotic pests, diseases and weeds.
The first step is to determine how to best engage landholders, industry and other members of local communities in on-farm surveillance and pest control, taking into account that needs differ by locality.
A National Biosecurity Forum was held on 17 September 2008 in Canberra which explored community engagement with a range of participants, including primary industry groups, environmental groups, government agencies, biosecurity organisations, and celebrity Ernie Dingo. The Department’s Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) is currently preparing a report on the outcomes from the event that will be circulated and analysed.
Project officers are looking to eventually develop national guidelines for engaging in on-farm surveillance for the horticultural sector, but also recognise engagement approaches identified can be applied to other primary industry sectors.
BRS and the Product Integrity, Animal and Plant Health Division are managing the project which runs from June 2008 to June 2009.
This project is closely linked to the Community Detectives research project funded by the Australian Centre for Excellence in Risk Analysis.
For more information contact Mike Cole (OCPPO) on telephone +61 2 6272 5399 or Anna Carr (BRS) on telephone +61 2 6272 4929.
Preliminary findings from the Community Detectives project
A report presenting some of the preliminary findings from the Community Detectives research project has been released.
The “Biosecurity: Improving Detection by Enlisting Community Detectives: The Cairns Café Report” (July 2008) discusses the use of science cafes as a way of engaging community experts in discussions about volunteer biosecurity detection and monitoring.
The key findings from the first science cafe held in Cairns on 20 May 2008, which was attended by more than 60 community experts, focuses on the following subject areas:
- Science cafes engage
- Weedy concerns
- Knowledgeable and confident
- Community endorsement
- Action not talk
- Significant contributions
- Motivating factors
- Response time for potential incursions.
The full progress report can be downloaded at: Biosecurity: Improving Detection by Enlisting Community Detectives 
PDF [780kb].
A second cafe was held on 16 September 2008 in Canberra. More than 100 people from Canberra-based environmental and volunteer groups and biosecurity agencies around Australia attended the event. The topic 'biosecurity meets environmental monitoring' generated considerable discussion about the role of the ‘community detectives’ in the prevention, detection and reporting of biosecurity incursions.
A third and final cafe is being planned with a final report on the research project to be completed thereafter.
The Community Detectives project aims to:
- explore the potential for science cafes to engage community experts in discussions about biosecurity detection and monitoring
- identify potential biosecurity volunteers ('community detectives'), and
- identify how a community detective network might be implemented.
The project sits within a broader goal of increasing detection of biosecurity threats. It focuses on exploring engagement in biosecurity detection and planning how this activity might be potentially undertaken.
The National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU) is conducting the project, with support from the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) and OCPPO. The Australian Centre for Excellence in Risk Analysis is funding the project.
For more information about the project, contact Jacqueline de Chazal (ANU) on telephone +61 2 6125 5008 or Anna Carr (BRS) on telephone +61 2 6272 4929.
Remote microscopy project to improve fruit fly identification
A project is underway to improve Australia’s fruit fly diagnostic capability through use of a web-based remote microscope system.
OCPPO has commissioned the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity (CRCNPB) to deliver the project. The CRCNPB will do this through collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
The CRCNPB will develop a:
- manual of systems, procedures and protocols required for remote microscopy, and
- National Remote Microscopy Network for Exotic Fruit Fly Diagnostics.
The network will allow taxonomic experts from different localities around Australia to examine and manipulate fruit fly specimens in real time.
OCPPO and the CRCNPB expect that the method of bringing the expert to the specimen through use of the web-based microscopy network will improve Australia’s responsiveness to potential incursions.
To save time and effort, the CRCNPB will build upon and expand on an existing initiative to develop a remote microscope system by the CSIRO and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service for all emergency plant pests.
For more information contact Jacek Plazinski (OCPPO) on telephone +61 2 6272 4334.
Two Australian National Diagnostic Protocols completed
An update from the Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS)
Australian National Diagnostic Protocols for two emergency plant pests, plum pox virus and apple brown rot (Monilinia fructigena), have been endorsed by the national Plant Health Committee (PHC).
The protocols will provide plant health diagnosticians across Australia with tools that will deliver accurate and consistent results for the two diseases.
The protocols were accepted by the Assessment Panel (a SPHDS ad hoc working group) for recommendation to PHC for endorsement.
The Panel, consisting of SPHDS members and technical experts, considered the following in making their recommendation:
- availability of international standards
- formatting of a protocol in accordance with the SPHDS Reference Standard No. 2 (Development of Diagnostic Protocols – Technical Procedures)
- availability of a record of validation report, and
- peer review of the protocol.
The assessment applied the SPHDS Reference Standard No. 4 (Guidelines for Verification and Peer Review Reports) in assessing the EPP diagnostic protocols for recommendation as Australian National Diagnostic Protocols.
The PHC is Australia's national plant health policy decision-making body.
For further information about the protocol approval process or regarding the development of protocols contact Jacek Plazinski (OCPPO) on +61 2 6272 4334.
Methyl Bromide Alternatives Information System is live
The Methyl Bromide Alternatives Information System (MBAIS) is live and contributors are being sought to register to use the system.
The MBAIS is a web-based tool and has been developed to:
- identify methyl bromide alternatives being researched, or in use in Australia and/or those alternatives in use internationally for quarantine pre-shipment (QPS) and non-QPS use, and
- help identify gaps where there are no technical and economic alternatives for commodities.
The system currently contains over 400 records of methyl bromide alternatives for the full range of commodities fumigated for QPS and non-QPS uses.
Early feedback from users has been very positive with access granted to many users from:
- government (Australia, New Zealand and United States)
- industry (peak industry bodies, researchers, consultants, chemical companies and technologists)
- regulators (Australian states and territories, Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts), and
- Montreal Protocol groups (Meeting of the Parties, Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee).
Sources of contributions have come from treatment manuals, databases, statistics, peer reviewed scientific journals, monographs, conferences, consultancy reports, technical reports, print and electronic media.
Registered users can search, add, or edit records and suggest other data contributors. Searches on the system can be made by commodity group, methyl bromide alternative, or contact’s last name.
OCPPO developed the system on behalf of the Plant Health Committee, Australia's national plant health policy decision-making body.
Contact the MBAIS Administrator, Janice Oliver, to request access to use the system either by email or by telephone on +61 2 6272 3442. Information about MBAIS is also provided at Methyl Bromide Alternatives Information System.