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Vine Health

The Vine Health Continuum - What is your Responsibility

Any enterprise is responsible for its own profitability and fate; however some things are best addressed by coordinating with others in the same boat. The National Vine Health Steering Committee provides strategic leadership toward enabling a seamless protection of Australia’s wine industry from biological risks.

Elements of the Australian “vine health continuum” are outlined in the schedule below with the primary strategy for each pest marked in orange.  Secondary strategies are marked in yellow.  With each strategic approach there is a different group of people and enterprises who wear the responsibility for control.

Strategy Innocuos Plant positive Active managed in vineyard Farm Hygeine Regionally contained Nursery Exotic Winery
Powdery mildew                
Oidium                
Botrytis                
Corky Bark                
Grapevine leaf rust                
Eutypa                
Armillaria                
Nematodes                
Weevils                
Leafroll virus                
Rupestris Stem Pitting                
Fanleaf                
Phylloxera                
Pierces disease                
LBAM                
Bretannomyces                
Acetobacter                
Phomopsis                
Crown Gall                
Phytopthera                
Cylndrocarpon                
Verticillium                
Mealybug                
Botrysphaeria                
Aspergillus                
Rhizopus                
Cladosporium                
Penicillium                
Kloekera                
Actinomyces                
Trichoderma                
Collembola                
Snails                
Birds                
Spider Mites                
Bud Mites                
Predator Mites                
Thrips                
Leafhoppers                
Skeletisers                
Weeds                
Rabbits                
Hares                
Kangarooos                
Sheep                
Geese                
Sacccharomyces                
Pythium                

 

Strategy Responsibility
Innocuous No one / general grower interest
Plant positive Grower interest
Actively managed in vineyard Core business for grape growers
Farm Hygiene Growers, wineries, transport, visitors
Regionally contained Growers, wineries, transport, visitors, government
Nursery Growers and Nursery Managers
Exotic Government
Winery Winemakers

The people and enterprises with responsibility above must maintain and improve their management capacity, in order to realise optimal vine health and achieve appropriate management of risks.  Governments and wine industry organisations at all levels are interested in maintenance and improvement of the industry capacity in this area.

Maintaining and Improving capacity in managing the vine health continuum is also a priority of the National Wine Extension Steering Committee.  Both committees aim to coordinate investments, to clarify roles, and to help people and enterprises develop the capacities to manage their responsibilities in the system as a whole.

Both committees recognise that State Government primary industry departments have particular research capability, extension capability and responsibility in pest and disease management, regulation and biosecurity. 

Both national committees wished to consider communication and extension approaches in this area.  The strategies and elements of this presentation are a framework for consultation and not the considered conclusions of either committee.  However readers may find it useful to design their own enterprise approaches toward the vine health continuum.

Plant Health Australia is a peak national coordinating body.  They have a national plant health awareness campaign.  The “look be alert, ask an expert” exotic plant pest hotline is 1800 084 881. Call this number if you see anything unusual.

Below is the link to the National Wine Extension Committee:

http://www.csu.edu.au/research/nwgic/extension/national.htm

 

Vine Health & Vine Environment

BUNCH rots, young vine decline and vine trunk diseases will be targeted in this project which will build on valuable research work already carried out at the NGWIC.  The aims include improved identification of vine diseases, development of models to predict outbreaks and determination of the most effective controls.  It will also examine influences in vine fungal diseases and develop vineyard soil tests to predict replant problems.

The project team will conduct disease surveys on a range of varieties in vineyards across key NSW growing regions.  Biological and non-biological environmental stress factors that influence the susceptibility of grape vines to disease will be identified.  Management strategies to reduce the impact of critical stress factors will be established.  Expected outcomes include improved detection and identification of wood and bunch diseases and reduction of bunch rot organisms in vineyards.

The project will provide a benchmark for the incidence of young vine decline in NSW and identify the principal mode of infection.  It will also present an economic analysis of the effectiveness of the proposed management strategies and disease prediction modelling.

 

Progress Reports

January - March 2008

April - June 2008