Vegetable industry biosecurity and business continuity strategy (VG22004)

What is it all about?

This project will create a biosecurity strategy for the vegetable industry, providing an adaptable, flexible approach to preparing for high-priority exotic pests, responding to the arrival of exotic pests, and assisting with the initial monitoring and management of pests that are still establishing in Australia.

Led by AUSVEG with support from Plant Health Australia and state and territory biosecurity and research agencies, the program will include:

• A contingency fund for industry responsiveness to unanticipated threats, providing an adaptable, flexible approach to preparing for high-priority exotic pests 
• Demonstrations of robust, on-farm biosecurity practices by growers to foster reassurance and trust within grower communities and multi-level government and non-government groups 
• Developing protocols to facilitate produce movement and the swift reinstatement of market access
• A comprehensive communications and extension program across growers, agronomists and consultants.

With a large diversity of crops and exotic pests that could be a serious issue if introduced to Australia, the vegetable industry needs more than a standard biosecurity plan to help the industry prioritise which pests require more urgent research and development. The vegetable industry needs a biosecurity strategy that clearly establishes which pests will be worked on and what information is needed about those pests to maximise the benefits of being prepared.

Contingency plans need to be developed in collaboration with state and territory biosecurity agencies to ensure that they are usable by those agencies in the event of an incursion, as well as to provide direct benefits to growers.