Blueberries left to rust

Last month Biosecurity Tasmania revoked containment rules for Blueberry rust, a fungal fruit infection.

This was a pragmatic decision taken to resolve the situation that local producers with blueberry rust on their farms could actually send their product to any state in Australia but not move it within Tasmania.

Containment rules were used to limit the spread of the disease which can cause defoliation, stunted growth and plant death.

However a review by Biosecurity Tasmania involving industry stakeholders, farmers and interest groups reported that the containment strategy was ineffective, and most likely impact local producers access to domestic markets.

Tasmanian chief plant protection officer Andrew Bishop said “If we’d maintain the current position this next season, we’d have seen more spread and effectively we could have ended up with a majority of producers basically being regulated out of business”.

The change doesn’t please everyone.

Organic growers will need to find ways to retain their certification if they wish to access inter-state markets that require the use of chemical sprays to protect their crops from the disease.

Solutions may be around the corner as the Tasmanian Government has funded three year trial of non-fungicide and non-spray options for rust management.