YOUR LEVY AT WORK
On-farm biosecurity series: Harvest and production practices
BIOSECURITY FEATURE
While we often think of biosecurity risk in terms of what crosses the boundaries of a site, what happens on-site is also important from a biosecurity perspective. Anna Rathé : HortNZ biosecurity manager Conducting your everyday production practices in ways that reduce the chance of spreading undetected (or established) pests, pathogens and weeds is worthwhile. This is especially important during busy times such as harvest when increased site activity can cause people to cut corners with biosecurity risk management. Protocols for production practices should be included in your on-farm biosecurity plan. Contact your industry body to see if they have a crop-specific template that you can use. If not, you can use the Horticulture New Zealand template available online. Some of the common risk areas associated with production practices are explored below,
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The ORCHARDIST : FEBRUARY 2022
along with risk reduction actions for you to consider. Crop surveillance Keeping a close eye on your crop gives you the best chance of spotting anything unusual that might be a biosecurity threat. Make sure you have a regular monitoring programme in place and keep records, including when you don’t find anything. It can be very useful to know that regular monitoring has been undertaken but not picked anything up. Ensure your staff are familiar with what is ‘normal’ and are aware of the key biosecurity threats for your crop, so they know what is unusual and needs to be reported.
