Plant fungus authorities have given up trying to control

Tasmanian Biosecurity officials have stopped trying to contain the blueberry rust fungus — saying “the benefits of containment no longer outweigh the burden.”

Key points:

• Fungal diseases cause extensive defoliation and can kill plants with severe infections
• Tasmania has struggled unsuccessfully to contain it
• Listing it as endemic means that restrictions on infected properties will be removed and farmers will have to live with, and manage

The fungus that first arrived in the island nation in 2014 can cause extensive defoliation of blueberry crops and sometimes plant death.

Tasmanian Biosecurity said it proved impossible to stop the spread of the fungus, which spreads via spores in the air, contaminated clothing or equipment.

“The containment approach we’ve taken over the last few years is clearly not working anymore,” said chief plant protection officer Andrew Bishop.

“It worked really well for the first few years, and was always meant to try and slow down the spread to allow manufacturers to adjust to management, but last season we saw a lot more infections happen.”

Blueberry rust was first detected in Tasmania in 2014.(Victorian Department of Primary Industries)

Organic farmers expect price reduction

Tasmanian organic blueberry growers are devastated.

They will now be locked out of their lucrative South Australian market which requires products from rust free plants.

Kent Mainwaring’s organic blueberry grower is one that will miss out on the market that gives them a premium price.

“That would make our operations here marginal, we rely on to get top in the market, if we lost our organic status that would put us on the other side of the ledger,” Mainwaring said.

Kent Mainwaring said he would miss out on a lucrative market in South Australia.(ABC News: Tim Morgan)

It will also see organic blueberries hit other markets, alongside conventional farm products.

“The South Australian market has traditionally been a very strong market for us … any increase in supply to markets in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane I’m sure will lower prices,” Mainwaring said.

The price drop can be dramatic depending on how much surplus blueberries the market can absorb.

“We always expect blueberry consumption to increase year after year as it has done,” Mainwaring said.

‘They’ve worked hard’

Researchers are investigating a spray for organic blueberries but the product is a long way off. (ABC News: Clint Jasper)

Tasmanian Fruit Growers Chief Executive Officer Peter Cornish said farms infected with blueberry rust were under stringent conditions affecting their business and it was time to admit defeat.

“All kudos to Biosecurity Tasmania and our farmers, they have fought hard, they have fought hard in this battle to try and stop the spread,” he said.

“Last year we were very conducive [conditions] for the spread of blueberry rust.”

Since arriving eight years ago, hundreds of crops have been destroyed and tens of thousands of dollars spent as part of the eradication plan, Biosecurity Tasmania.

It was declared a success in mid-June 2016 but a second outbreak was detected just months later and a containment approach was taken instead.

The Tasmanian Agricultural Institute has researched and evaluated a spray for use by organic farmers.

While the research is coming to an end and has promising results, it is expected to take a long time before the product is ready to be marketed.

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