Australian growers encouraged to ‘Be a good mate, stop it at the gate’
In Australia, the cotton pickers may have been put away for another season but being aware of biosecurity risks never stops. Pests, weeds, diseases, and the threat of exotic pests are always present and have the potential to spread throughout a region at any time of year if biosecurity risks aren’t managed.
Growers and agronomists are at the front line for stopping the spread of endemic and exotic pests, so they are being encouraged to do their bit for biosecurity with a new campaign: Be a good mate, stop it at the gate.
The campaign highlights the fact that biosecurity is a shared responsibility and asks what each individual is doing, as a grower, agronomist or visitor, on-farm to stop pests, weeds and diseases at the gate?
Australia’s cotton extension arm, CottonInfo, will also be sharing a series of videos later this year on biosecurity, which highlight the practices of a number of people in the industry, and how they practically implement biosecurity practices.
The campaign highlights steps that growers can take to improve on-farm biosecurity, from monitoring and controlling weeds and inputs coming onto the farm, to wash-down facilities, signage and reporting suspicious symptoms or pests to an Exotic Plant Pest Hotline.
Growers and consultants also have a wealth of information and resources on good biosecurity practices at their fingertips via the myBMP biosecurity module and a Farm Biosecurity website.
CottonInfo has also produced a video featuring Brookstead Queensland grower Georgie Krieg, who talks about some of the ways she has implemented biosecurity on their farm. See https://youtu.be/paA9I-4oR3s
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