The Foundation’s first round focussed on delivering further impact from PBCRC investments. The Board was delighted to receive over 50 applications, totalling over $1.4m in requests, highlighting the significant need for national investment in plant biosecurity science.
The 2019 funding round called for proposals in the following areas: environmental biosecurity (with clear overlap with social and community biosecurity), and in particular myrtle rust (with clear linkages to the Draft National Action Plan – below); building on the social biosecurity program of the PBCRC, including indigenous engagement; urban and peri-urban biosecurity; opportunities to […]
Project Leader Hazell Parry, CSIRO Status Complete Background Parallel research has been undertaken in both the UK[1] and Australia[2] that considers the risks posed by the long-distance atmospheric movement of insect pests and pathogens. This currently takes a range of independent methodological approaches: Atmospheric dispersal modelling Radar technology Near-ground monitoring Genetics A Rothamsted Research-CSIRO Linkage […]
Project Leader Jessica Lye, cesar Dr Helen McGregor, Redefining Agriculture Status Complete Executive Summary – Download full report The concepts of ‘urban greening’ and ‘urban rewilding’ are becoming increasingly normalised in high-density urban areas, such as Australia’s capital cities. The growing popularity of urban greening approaches has been supported by the growing need to find […]
This Foundation-funded project delivered Masterclasses to Australian strawberry growers to increase their awareness and adoption of farm biosecurity practices. Growers considered most of the farm biosecurity practices discussed as ‘easy’ to adopt, particularly those that were not costly or time consuming to implement. 75% of participants adopted one or more of the biosecurity practices on […]
The Foundation supported NSW DPI to undertake a program of activity for biosecurity in the post-border freight and logistics industry. This came on the back of two post-border detections of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) in 2017-18 in NSW. These detections led to a cost-shared emergency response between agricultural industries and government under the […]
The 2019 ‘Pest Invaders’ competition, sponsored by the Foundation, was a huge success with 153 schools registered from across Australia and just over 3,600 students directly engaged in experiments and activities to help them discover the impact invasive pests have on the native environment and agricultural production, on both a national and international level. A […]
Project Leader, Organisation Jordan Bailey, NSW DPI Status Complete Background For the International Year of Plant Health, and National Science Week, NSW DPI celebrated plant health and biosecurity with their mascot the Biosecurity Warrior. A custom webpage and free activity pack were developed to engage kids across the state on the importance of plants and […]
Project Leader, Organisation Geoff Pegg, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Status COMPLETE Background Exotic pests threaten cultural and environmental biodiversity values unique to Australia. Myrtle rust is a significant invasive pathogen of the native environment. The Australian Government has responsibility for maintaining World Heritage values under the World Heritage Convention ensuring biosecurity risks are […]
Project Leader, Organisation Andrew Geering, University of Queensland Status COMPLETE Background Many ornamental and Asian vegetable plant species host plant pathogens that are threats to agricultural and native ecosystems in Australia. Trade of these plants is difficult to regulate, as they can be bought using electronic markets (eBay) or even at school fetes, and illegal […]