The Department of Agriculture and Food is widening the search for serious exotic grain pests by enlisting the help of its Cultivar Variety Testing program as a pilot for field surveillance.
National grains industry biosecurity co-ordinator, Lisa Sherriff, said changes to World Trade Organisation legislation now required that countries participating in international trade, such as Australia, must prove that specific exotic grain pests and diseases are known not to occur.
"To achieve this, the grains industry will now need to gather negative surveillance data for exotic, pests and diseases all the way from farm to port," she said.
"The department's CVT trials provide an ideal opportunity for additional surveillance for exotic pests as there are more than 150 trials across the State, both on research stations and on farms."
The trials include many grains crops such as wheat, barley, oats and pulses.
"Data collected from the CVT surveillance will contribute to Western Australia's claims for area freedom, which in turn will help to protect market access," she said.
Exotic pests that will be looked out for in this season’s trials include exotic rust strains such as Ug-99 and barley stripe rust, branched broomrape weed, and in stored grain Karnal bunt and Khapra beetle.
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