NQ workshops focus on IPM technologies

The horticulture industry continues to face greater restrictions and scrutiny around access to and use of pesticides, especially near sensitive waterways and ecosystems.

Through grower participation in Growcom’s Hort360 Great Barrier Reef program we are able to monitor and report on industry-wide trends that demonstrate improvements in on-farm practices.

Of the four critical crop and land management practices that the program focuses on, data shows a greater focus is needed on pesticide application and usage if we are to collectively improve the industry’s best practice standards.

To help address this, Growcom hosted two Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops in north and far north Queensland during May.

Dr Paul Horne from IPM Technologies in Victoria presented on the benefits of implementing IPM strategies and real-life outcomes from the programs his company has implemented both in Australia and overseas.

Dr Horne took local farming representatives from Mulgowie Farms, VJK Produce, Euri Gold Farms and Sunshine Mango’s, along with regional rural agronomists and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) entomologists through an example of how to develop an IPM strategy for a major regional crop.

Nathaniel Clark from RapidAIM Technologies also presented the latest Queensland Fruit Fly, Macadamia Nut Borer, Coddling Moth and soon to be released Fall Army Worm real time pest monitoring and reporting technology developed by the CSIRO.

This tech enables growers to receive instant notification of pest presence and pressure allowing far greater control over intervention options.

Dale Williams, owner of Euri Gold Farms in Bowen presented on his farms use of the RapidAIM traps to monitor Queensland Fruit Fly and how this technology completely changed his management strategies for managing this pest.

Euri Gold Farms traditionally used 50,000 liters of pesticide specific to Queensland Fruit Fly control per spray cycle but now that they can target specific pest incursions and control them quickly that spray volume is now down to 10,000 liters or only 20 percent of previous use per spray cycle.

This represents a significant reduction in potential environmental off farm impacts including those to water quality entering the coastal streams and Great Barrier Reef environments and significant cost savings for the producer.

These workshops were supported by the Queensland Governments Reef Water Quality Program.