Pest prevention better than cure Be it a blowfly at a family barbecue or a codling moth in a consignment of apples, it only takes one to spoil
have only a small population.
Insects and birds have arrived on strong
Peter is Territory Manager South
prevailing winds from Australia. Then
Island, Key Account and Technical
there are the trade stowaways such as
the party.
Manager for Key Industries, which
rats, mice, Argentine ants, German and
Peter Visser knows that well enough.
provides conservation, agricultural,
Common wasps, etc. Each introduced
After an early career with the
horticultural, DIY and professional
pest costs New Zealand millions of
Department of Conservation and then
pest control products.
dollars a year either in control costs or
18 years in the horticulture industry,
We’ve dodged some bullets over the
its effect on primary production or the
including orchard management, Peter
years, he agrees. MPI’s biosecurity
environment.
brings decades of experience to his role
team is on constant alert for threats
Whether it’s keeping household insects
at pest control company Key Industries.
to our primary industries as well as
at bay or protecting valuable crops,
The damage is easy to see when pests
our environment. Many pests have
Peter’s advice is the same – prevention
such as rabbits or aphids take hold in
been intercepted either by pheromone
is better than cure. By the time a pest
pasture or brassica crops. Or when
traps or through public tip-offs. These
population is announcing itself, its effect
opening the pantry door produces
include fruit flies, Painted Apple Moth,
on your lifestyle or livelihood will likely
a skitter-skitter of tiny feet into the
Gum Leaf Skeletoniser, Marmorated
already be significant.
shadows. The numbers don’t have to
Stinkbug and various ant species.
A preventative control programme
be big though – a single codling moth in
The list of what has made its way to
ensures insect and animal numbers
an apple consignment to a country with
our shores is long. Rabbits, stoats,
never escalate out of control. Some
zero tolerance for the pest comes at huge
cats, deer, possums and ferrets were
methods require the strategic use of
financial cost yet the source orchard may
introduced intentionally by humans.
insecticides or baits while others use
20 | THE FARMLANDER
Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited | © February 2022. All rights reserved.
WWW.FARMLANDS.CO.NZ
