JESSICA Lye wants to bridge the gap between vegetable growers and implementing biosecurity knowledge and practices on farm, particularly with Vietnamese growers from Melbourne’s market gardens precincts.
This direction was recently awarded with the RIRDC Rural Woman of the Year Award in Victoria – later this year she will compete for the national award.
Along the way she will travel to New Zealand and America to identify emerging pest issues, use social media to blog about her experiences both as the Rural Woman of the Year and her own growing knowledge of biosecurity and, in time for spring planting, bring Victorian growers together to talk about implementing biosecurity tools on farm.
Her focus, in particular, is working with growers for whom English is a second language, particularly the Vietnamese market gardeners around Melbourne and at Werribee.
It is a natural progression for Dr Lye, who as AusVeg national manager scientific affairs, is responsible for managing the implementation of biosecurity programs on farms and communicating with government policy advisors about biosecurity on a national scale.
This experience brought her into contact with growers and advisors dealing with cucumber green mottle mosaic virus in the past couple of years.
“Quarantine not only affected cucumber growers, it affected Asian melon growers who could not get product out of the Northern Territory,” Dr Lye said.
“Pest infestations can quickly accelerate and impact on trade. Some businesses were shut down for two growing seasons and others made the decision to buy land and set up their farm interstate – which is a huge capital cost.
“If I can communicate well over the next 12 months, hopefully the general public will be better informed about the vegetable industry and impacts of quarantine.”
It was issues of communication that brought her to develop the project her award hinges on. She said it was timely given the Commonwealth government was investing in more industry-based Plant Export Authorised Officers while winding back their own direct involvement in biosecurity inspections.
“We’re entering a new paradigm of shared responsibility but we need to do it properly because any system involving biosecurity has its challenges,” Dr Lye said.
“Growers are going to have to ramp up their biosecurity on-farm.
“Going to New Zealand and America, I’ll be identifying engagement methods their government employees, industry associations and growers use to identify pests and implement biosecurity programs.”
She will be blogging about her travels and learnings and more broadly about her year as Victoria’s Rural Woman of the Year, at: www.ruralfutures.com.au/Blog.php
