Last week KVH took part in a showcase of research being undertaken to prepare nationally for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB).

Team members travelled to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) office in Auckland to attend a joint BMSB Council meeting and take part in field trips where we were fortunate enough to see some new traps in action in our national surveillance network.

These aerodynamic traps are shaped like a windvane which helps the pheromone travel further, attracting more stink bugs to the area. Originally trialled in kiwifruit in Italy through co-funding from the Zespri Biosecurity Innovation portfolio, it was exciting to see this research being implemented to complement our own current surveillance methods.

Next, we travelled to Plant & Food Research (PFR) to see some interesting science that the BMSB Council have been collaborating on with the research organisation and take in the hard work of the Council coming to life and making meaningful steps to increasing our BMSB preparedness.

The BMSB Council is a collaboration between Biosecurity New Zealand and a range of horticultural sectors and continues to run a large research portfolio focussing on readiness and response planning. Proactively preparing and developing our BMSB toolbox during peacetime will give us the best chance at success should we ever find ourselves faced with an incursion.

Image below: Erin Lane and Leanne Stewart from KVH join a field trip to see aerodynamic BMSB traps in action.