Key stakeholders from the state’s blueberry growing industry have called for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of blueberry rust incursions in Tasmania, saying the industry is in “crisis”.
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Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, Primary Industry Biosecurity Action Alliance, Australian Blueberry Growers Association and a blueberry grower met at Parliament House lawns on Thursday morning to call on Primary Industries minister Jeremy Rockliff to immediately order eradication procedures for blueberry rust.
Blueberry rust has been detected at three North-West Tasmania properties in the past year: one in August 2016 and two further incursions in March this year.
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Eradication versus management
Primary Industry Biosecurity Action Alliance chairwoman Dixie Emmerton headed up the group of industry stakeholders who called for the inquiry, questioning the government’s management of blueberry rust.
“We consider it is a crisis. We are concerned that there isn’t enough being done,” Ms Emmerton said.
“We’ve had some serious concerns about how [blueberry rust] has been managed, particularly in relation to consistency of approach and the determination of what expert opinions and information has been relied upon in making the decisions,” she said.
Biosecurity Tasmania general manager Lloyd Klumpp said the decision to focus on containment was made after considering what was needed to eradicate the disease, likelihood of success, probability of re-infection and economic impact on affected and non-affected growers.
“Based on assessment of all of that information a decision was made to focus on containment, work with industry to protect other properties from infection and focus on continued market access for growers,” Dr Klumpp said.
How the blueberry rust outbreak is being managed
The industry group wants the government to act immediately to eradicate blueberry rust to ensure growers do not continue to be affected.
“There are three incursions that we’re aware of and we need those to be managed quickly and effectively because of the concern about spread within the state,” Ms Emmerson said.
“We have a very short period of opportunity to be able to effectively manage the current incursions and we need that to be managed in a couple of weeks, if not less, for that to be dealt with in the best interests of Tasmania,” she said.
Dr Klumpp said strict biosecurity measures were put in place immediately at all three sites where blueberry rust was detected in the past 12 months and continued to be maintained.
“I can assure all growers and industry that we are ensuring all measures are in place to contain the disease,” Dr Klumpp said.
“That includes strict quarantine measures on infected properties, regular inspections of the sites, ongoing surveillance, working with industry to ensure good on farm hygiene at non-infected properties and working with interstate authorities to provide ongoing market access,” he said.
Blueberry rust has not been found at any further sites since March, Dr Klumpp said.
What to look for
Signs of blueberry rust include:
- Initial small yellow, chlorotic leaf spots on upper surface of young leaves
- Lesions turn rust/brown coloured and enlarge as the infection progresses
- Yellow-orange powdery pustules develop on the underside of leaves
- Similar pustules may also appear on blueberry fruit
- Premature leaf drop and defoliation.
Any signs of blueberry rust should be reported to Biosecurity Tasmania.
Johanna Baker-Dowdell
Johanna has more than 22 years experience as a journalist for newspapers, magazines and online publications.
Johanna has more than 22 years experience as a journalist for newspapers, magazines and online publications.
