against diseases, pests and weeds
against diseases, pests and weeds
against diseases, pests and weeds
Farm biosecurity is a set of measures designed to protect a property from the entry and spread of pests and diseases. Farm biosecurity is your responsibility, and that of every person visiting or working on your property.
Learn moreWe have tools, tips and manuals to help you implement farm biosecurity on your property. You will also find individual profiles for a range of livestock and crops: or you can create a profile tailored to your farm.
Learn moreSubscribe to our newsletter
Learn moreThe best defence against pests and diseases is to implement sound biosecurity practices on your farm. Quick and simple measures built into everyday practice will help protect your farm and your future.
Almost anything moved onto your property can be a potential source of pests and diseases for livestock and plants. Monitor animals or plant materials that enter the property, as well as sources of water, feed and fertiliser.
Continue reading
Responsibility for biosecurity doesn’t end when plant products or animals leave the farm gate. The measures in place on your property support biosecurity in your region.
Continue reading
Feral animals, plant pests and weeds are a widespread nuisance but can also cause harm to your business, so they need to be actively controlled.
Continue reading
If it can move, it can carry diseases, pests and weeds. That's why people, vehicles and equipment pose a high biosecurity risk and should be managed accordingly.
Continue reading
Good on-farm hygiene reduces the risk of spreading pests and diseases. You can implement simple hygiene practices with feed and water sources, product packaging, storage facilities, livestock husbandry, waste materials and plant propagation.
Continue reading
Ensure that staff are well trained and that you have the ability to trace where animals or plants have come from and where they went. Keep accurate records of purchases, sales and movements.
Continue reading
After a three-year effort, citrus canker has been eradicated from Australia. The tropical disease, affecting citrus such as oranges, limes, lemons and mandarins, has been eradicated thanks to the support of the local community and industry.
Using good on farm hygiene reduces the risk of spreading pests and diseases and minimises the risks they pose to your business. This applies at all times of the year, but particularly so during harvest.
Being biosecurity-conscious doesn’t need to be a big commitment; with a little planning and forethought many biosecurity activities slide right in to being standard practice. Of course, when all the planning is said and done, the next step is the ‘doing’. Many livestock producers have been ‘doing’ biosecurity for a long time, with some practices being so ingrained that they have become a natural part of the day-to-day operation of a farm.
July 2021 marks five years since the transition from national regulation of Johne’s disease (JD) in cattle to producer management of the disease. JD was previously regulated in all states and territories in Australia, meaning that beef herds that had a case of JD were put into quarantine and would need to undergo a disease management plan to eradicate the disease before being able to sell cattle freely again.
With many sheep producing regions across Australia receiving rainfall through January to March, Animal Health Australia (AHA) is reminding producers to be vigilant about virulent footrot. Virulent footrot spreads and expresses in the warm and moist conditions which are prevalent in many regions right now.
Many important crop pests and diseases such as rusts, viruses, slugs, snails, mites and aphids survive in the green bridge and affect emerging crops.
You can minimise the biosecurity risks when introducing new planting material by implementing a few simple procedures to your routine.
If you sometimes feel like you are drowning in paperwork, be reassured that keeping records is a genuinely useful biosecurity practice. If you ever find yourself caught up in a pest or disease incursion, the records you keep will be invaluable both to you and other producers in your industry.
Serpentine leafminer (Liriomyza huidobrensis) is a new pest to arrive in Australia, first reported in NSW in Greater Sydney in October 2020, and then also in the Fassifern Valley Queensland. Research shows this pest is that it is resistant to the chemical treatments used to control other leafminers. Therefore, an integrated pest management (IPM) regime is important to control the pest.
Several years on from the arrival of African swine fever (ASF) in Asia, the deadly pig disease remains right on Australia’s doorstep. With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issuing a heightened risk alert for the region, Animal Health Australia (AHA) is urging land managers and especially pig owners in Australia to be incredibly disciplined in how they manage their property biosecurity.