Onions

You have an important role to play in protecting your farm, your region and the onion industry from biosecurity threats.

Onions | Onion pest and disease threats | Pest eradication or control examples

The Onion Grower’s Biosecurity Manual outlines the recommended on farm biosecurity practices that aim to reduce the risks posed by pests and diseases. Other resources for onion producers are listed below.

When thinking about implementing biosecurity measures on your farm, the six biosecurity essentials are a good place to start. The biosecurity essentials are:

1. Farm inputs
2. People, vehicles and equipment
3. Production practices
4. Farm outputs
5. Feral animals and weeds
6. Train, plan and record

Tailored advice for onion growers based on the biosecurity essentials is included in the manual.

This section of the site also includes some case studies about on-farm biosecurity being used to eradicate or contain two pests of onions and information about specific pests and diseases.

Farm biosecurity

The Onions Growers’ Biosecurity Manual is designed for use by onion growers and their staff, as well as contractors, researchers and consultants working in the industry. It outlines simple procedures that can be used to minimise the risk of introducing and spreading pests, diseases or weeds on your farm. By implementing the recommended measures in day-to-day operations, you will improve your farm’s biosecurity and that of your region, minimising crop losses and additional costs.

The risk is real

Onion growers face different types of biosecurity risks:

Exotic pests and diseases – that are not in Australia yet.
Regionalised pests and diseases – that are already in Australia but are restricted to particular regions or can be kept off your farm through biosecurity practices.

On-farm biosecurity practices like those in this manual will help to protect your property from biosecurity risks.

Biosecurity toolkit

Resources

The Onion Growers’ Biosecurity Manual outlines the recommended on-farm biosecurity practices that aim to reduce the threats from pests and diseases. Other resources for onion producers are also listed.

	Biosecurity checklist (123 KB)
	Farm Biosecurity sign (372 KB)
	Onion Growers Biosecurity Manual (6 MB)
	Pest surveillance sheet (67 KB)
	Visitor register (35 KB)

Videos

Farm Biosecurity essentials: Farm inputs

Farm Biosecurity essentials: Farm outputs

Biosecurity and people movement on farms

FarmBiosecurity phone app

Farm Biosecurity essentials: Feral animals and weeds

Farm Biosecurity essentials: Production practices

Farm Biosecurity essentials: Train, plan, record

Vehicle and equipment biosecurity on farms

More information

To ensure your property has the best protection against the introduction and spread of new pests, identify the strengths and weaknesses of your biosecurity activities through some self-assessment questions in the Biosecurity checklist.

Once identified, a few simple, non-costly and practical procedures can be implemented to strengthen areas of greatest risk.

While changing everyday practices can take more effort in the short term, these will become second nature with time and are easier and cheaper than dealing with the introduction of a new pest.

The Pest Information Document Database on the Plant Health Australia website contains the pest-specific documents developed as part of industry biosecurity plans.

These documents provide background and emergency response information on a number of the high priority pests of Australia’s plant industries.