Seen something unusual? MAKE A REPORT
The New Zealand forestry sector have a long history of biosecurity, having run a forest surveillance programme for over 60 years.
This week was their annual biosecurity conference - which has been running for almost 20 years – and was attended by members of forestry and science communities as well as the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other primary sectors.
Operational Biosecurity was this year’s theme and Matt Dyck from KVH presented to impart some of our own knowledge and experiences, as well as to learn about what other groups are doing.
A closer working relationship with MPI and other sectors was a key learning from the Sapere review of “Lessons learned from the Psa response” and is also an outcome from the Government Industry Agreements (GIA) partnership that is working well.
Many of the key messages about biosecurity are consistent regardless of the sector involved, for example, the keynote presentation and highlight of the conference was Dr John Roche, who talked about the Mycolpasma bovis response and how this is shaping biosecurity practices in the animal sector. This is a familiar message to kiwifruit industry
learnings with Psa, and a challenge to ensure such practices are retained to
reduce the impact of any future incursions to our industry.
KVH investigates reports of unusual symptoms to identify and manage any biosecurity risks.
The KVH portal is now the Zespri Weather & Disease Portal. Access all the weather tools you're familiar with.