Whether you are a livestock producer, a plant producer or both, farm biosecurity is important. Here you’ll find tools to help assess the risks on your property and ways to reduce them.

Australian Biosecurity Farmer of the Year 2011 Toolkit Biosecurity forms Health statements

Latest news

Minimising spray drift

27 Jan 2012

Many farmers use a chemical spray to control pests or weeds on their property. Apart from health concerns about exposure to chemicals, one potential issue is the off-target movement (spray drift) of herbicides and pesticides onto nearby plants or susceptible areas.

Merry Christmas from the Farm Biosecurity team

22 Dec 2011

Take our livestock farm biosecurity quiz!

Tis the season to be jolly; but why not try a more worthwhile distraction? Test your knowledge of on farm biosecurity practices for livestock properties with our tailor-made quiz.

And if in doubt – test your research skills. All the answers can be found on www.farmbiosecurity.com.au

You can take the quiz online or, if you are the traditional type, download the hard copy version for printing.

(Photo: Glen George) 

Composting and Mad Cow Disease

16 Dec 2011

If you make compost or use it on pasture, you have an important role in helping prevent Mad Cow Disease (BSE). Composting is a good thing to do, for a number of reasons. However, there is a potentially significant legal issue that people who make compost and those who use it should be aware of.

Survey reveals grains industry at risk

5 Dec 2011

A recent survey of Victorian grain growers revealed that producers are leaving the industry open to plant pest incursions. The online survey, carried out by
Plant Health Australia (PHA) and the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, gave insight into the industry’s current biosecurity practices and awareness.

Member News

11 Nov 2011

Dairy Australia and Australian Dairy Farmers have developed a new tool to help producers implement sound on-farm biosecurity practices. The biosecurity booklet is timely as Australia prepares to claim freedom from the cattle viral disease Enzootic Bovine Leucosis (EBL) following a 15 year campaign across the industry.

2012 – The Australian Year of the Farmer

21 Oct 2011

Celebrations for the Australian Year of the Farmer (AYOF) were officially launched at the site of Australia’s first European farm at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens on 12 October.

Spending ‘Farm Day’ with the experts

19 Oct 2011

Farm Day – the annual event in May when city comes to country; when distinctly under-informed but curious city dwellers visit Australia’s welcoming farmers to get their boots dirty and learn where their food really comes from. Being into all things animal health, Farm Biosecurity News leaped on the opportunity to spend Farm Day on a property owned and managed by two experts in the field.

Buying online? Buyer beware

13 Oct 2011

With online shopping becoming a major rival to traditional retailers and services such as AuctionsPlus becoming ever more popular, it seems that livestock trading is increasingly getting in on the game.But what does buying or selling online mean for the health of your animals and what are the potential biosecurity risks to your farming operation?

Nice nod for Pepe’s Ducks

16 Sep 2011

Industry pioneer wins Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award
By any measure, Pepe Bonaccordo is one of Australian agriculture’s great success stories.

Fruit cocktails all round to celebrate plant biosecurity award

16 Sep 2011

Sandra and Peter Young’s approach to biosecurity at Queensland’s leading tropical and subtropical fruit production nursery has seen them win the plant category of the Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award.

Avian paramyxovirus provides timely reminder to check on-farm biosecurity

14 Sep 2011

Avian paramyxovirus provides timely reminder to check on-farm biosecurity

Poultry producers and other bird owners are reminded to review their biosecurity measures following the highly infectious virus recently found in pigeons in Victoria.

And the winners are…

8 Sep 2011

By any measure, Pepe Bonaccordo and Sandra and Peter Young, winners of the Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award, are some of Australian agriculture’s great success stories.

Having put home-grown duck firmly on the Australian dinner plate, over the past two decades Mr Bonaccordo has been cementing the future growth of the industry by developing and enforcing uncompromising standards on biosecurity, food safety and animal welfare.

Cleanliness a virtue over at the Hills’

7 Sep 2011

Thomas Hill has a simple philosophy when it comes to on-farm biosecurity: everything enters and leaves the property clean.

“We don’t want to take weeds or diseases onto any other property and we don’t want them to arrive on ours,” Mr Hill says.

No flies on finalist for biosecurity award

6 Sep 2011

Bill Casey of Ulverstone, Tasmania, who grows pyrethrum daisy for its valuable insecticide, is the latest finalist announced in the national Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Awards being sponsored by Plant Health Australia and Animal Health Australia. Mr Casey works for Botanical Resources Australia (BRA), a major player in contracting pyrethrum growers in Tasmania, providing agronomic and other crop advice to growers as well as harvesting, transport and storage logistics.

Pepe’s Ducks has biosecurity all in a row

6 Sep 2011

By any measure, Pepe Bonaccordo is one of Australian agriculture’s great success stories.

Starting in 1973 as a backyard business with just 22 Pekin ducks, Pepe’s Ducks now supplies 80,000 birds a week out of its facility at Windsor, NSW, and is the largest producer of ducks in Australia and New Zealand.

Victorian farmer on a high as finalist for award

31 Aug 2011

Lynn and Ian Rathjen, owners of ‘Whistling Eagle’ at Colbinabbin, have been on a high since they were told that they are finalists in the 2011 Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award.

Guardian of the golden nectar

30 Aug 2011

Lindsay Bourke, Tasmania’s biggest beekeeper, is on a mission to keep Australia’s honey the best-tasting, purest and safest in the world.

Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award finalists chosen

19 Aug 2011

The judges have concluded their difficult task and the results are in! Six finalists will vie to become the 2011 Biosecurity Farmer of the Year – three each in both the animal and plant categories.

Preparing for plant pest incursions

16 Aug 2011

There have been many high-profile stories in the media lately about the importation of Chinese apples and South American grapes, as well as incursions of Chestnut blight, Myrtle rust, Asian honeybees and a number of weeds. Recent media attention has heightened concerns about the risk of exotic plant pests making their way into Australia.

Plain and practical advice helps cherry growers prevent pests

11 Aug 2011

Cherry growers now have a best practice biosecurity guide to reduce the risk of new pests damaging their orchards with the release of the Orchard Biosecurity Manual for the Cherry Industry.