update WA STONEFRUIT

THE WA Stonefruit AGM was opened and chaired by Anthony Caccetta and attended by forty-two growers and industry partners at the Lesmurdie Sports Club during May.

The evening was catered for, and all attendees enjoyed a quality meal, with good fellowship was experienced by all.

WA Stonefruit Project Coordinator, Ross Anile, presented the industry update by power point and documentation. The presentation covered all the projects and activities initiated and completed during the 2023–24 budget year.

Anthony Caccetta then presented the Chairman’s Report.

We were fortunate to have Elders WA executives present current available chemicals and the usage protocols in the treatment of fruit fly and thrips and other pests that affect the production of Stonefruit.

A point of interest was the possible development of new pesticides for the control of thrip and other pests. The growers were informed that it was difficult to develop new pesticides, due to the economic cost. Currently the cost of development is anywhere from $200m to $400m.

Nancye Gannaway (DPIRD) presented the report on the Qfly outbreak at Bayswater. Nancye spoke of the control measures put in place to minimize and control the outbreak. DPIRD were successful in finally eradicating QFLY from the Perth metropolitan area.

“ A great deal of time and resources were put in place to deal with this outbreak and DPIRD management and staff should be congratulated on this positive outcome. ”

One of the initiatives put into place by DPIRD is that all industry representatives, such as myself, were put through a training course to become Industry Biosecurity Liaison Officers. The purpose of this training is that in the future if there is a serious outbreak, industry representatives can be called upon to assist DPIRD.

David Magri from Skytronics presented the work being undertaken in developing the new autonomous bird control drone system.

David is heavily involved in the development of new biosecurity pest control systems which reduce the reliance on chemicals as a main control measure.

David is also currently assisting growers in the South-West upgrade and maintain monitoring systems for the efficient use of water on farms.