PROGRESS in swatting a major horticulture pest continues with the appointment of two key staff for major fruit fly management programs.
Two strategic contract appointments have been made for Queensland fruit fly (Qfly) Area Wide Management (AWM) and the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).
Dan Ryan has been appointed program director of the SITplus consortium.
The SITplus consortium is a research group facilitated by HIA that brings together experts from Macquarie University, Primary Industries and Regions SA’s (PIRSA) Biosecurity SA and South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) divisions, HIA, the CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Flagship, Plant & Food Research Australia, and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Mr Ryan has worked as business leader for Plant & Food Research (Australia) for 11 years, as well as being a representative stakeholder in the SITplus consortium.
Mr Ryan was been engaged on a three year contract beginning September 21.
The focus of Mr Ryan’s role will be to work with all the consortium stakeholders to "enhance the momentum generated to date", communicating to existing and new research and commercial partners, aligning the different components of the HIA $48 million Qfly management investment, of which SITplus is central.
Successful delivery and production of a sterile male line of Qfly and the associated AWM adoption are the two key outcomes of the initiative.
The second appointment is of Dr Penny Measham as Qfly AWM Coordinator.
Dr Measham has a science background and has been working with fruit industries for 10 years in numerous research and extension roles.
The role of Qfly AWM Coordinator is part of the recent funding to HIA through the Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit co-investment project "Adaptive area-wide management of QFly using SIT".
Dr Measham has been engaged on a 34-month contract with Hort Innovation and began on August 24.
As part of the SITplus R&D initiative, the project seeks to prepare and support industry and councils for the eventual deployment of SIT Qfly to achieve effective and efficient Qfly suppression.
Dr Measham will be the primary two-way conduit between the project’s research team and stakeholders involved in Qfly management for delivery of the regionally focussed programs in horticultural production areas affected by endemic Qfly or outbreaks.
The appointments go hand-in-hand with the a new national Sterile Insect Technology facility in Port Augusta, South Australia that will produce billions of sterile male fruit flies – at the rate of 50 million a week – to help prevent the threat of fruit fly invading the state.
South Australia is the only mainland state in Australia that is free from fruit flies.
The new measures will help secure producers’ access to important citrus and almond export markets including the United States, New Zealand and Japan, worth more than $800 million this year.
South Australia’s Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell said he expected construction of the $3.8 million centre to take 10 months.
“While fruit fly is a major problem with horticultural crops in Australia’s other mainland states, South Australia remains fruit fly free, but we are still at risk of outbreak," Mr Bignell said.
“Producing male-only sterile Qflies has never been done before on this scale and this facility will have an enormous impact on the way in which we deal with outbreaks."