The Australian government has provided their horticulture sector with a funding boost of A$5.8m for two research projects. One project aims to deliver a farm-level support tool to assist growers with orchard activities, including early detection of pest and disease outbreaks; and the other project will look into area-wide management of fruit fly providing guidelines for efficient and effective pest suppression and stakeholder adoption.

Horticulture Innovation Australia, who are leading the projects, state that Queensland Fruit Fly results in losses of more than A$100m each year to Australia and is a major barrier to offshore markets.

Matt Dyck, KVH Biosecurity