Paul’s update
Milestone 10.2 – New age agrichemical needs
Following the workshop held in Wellington mid-September, with Stakeholders identifying gaps in crop protection control programmes, the common areas of interest selected to explore further were thrips and bacterial diseases. Pesticide and Biopesticide registrants were canvassed and asked to provide suitable candidate options that could provide control of these issues.
For thrips, Citrus, Onions, Passionfruit, Strawberries, Summerfruit and Tomatoes all have limited control options. Seven registrants put forward eight pesticide and five biopesticide candidates. This was very encouraging.
For bacterial diseases, Passionfruit, Buttercup Squash, Summerfruit, Tomatoes and Fresh Vegetables had previously identified limited control options. Again, seven registrants nominated five pesticide and five biopesticide options worthy of evaluation.
A proposal has been forwarded to the Industry Representative Group and the Programme Governance Group to progress with three field trials – targeting onion thrips in onions, black rot in vegetable brassicas and angular leaf spot on cucurbits (melons and squash). It is hoped field work can commence in the next month to screen the potential control options.
Milestone 3.3 – Agroecology the basis for sector pest management programmes
Spray diaries or spray diary data has now been received from eight of the stakeholder groups. This information, along with IPM practices is currently being collated and will be reported in the next week.
