Winegrowers encouraged to use Snap Send Solve to report pests

Yarra Valley winemakers are being encouraged to utilise the free Australian app, Snap Send Solve to track insects and protect commercial vineyards from damage.

It's hoped the app will help monitor commercial vineyards and report suspect infestations of phylloxera to Agriculture Victoria for testing and on-farm management.

The move follows the successful implementation of Snap Send Solve in the Mornington Peninsula, where it is being used as a tool for community members to report Amenity grapevines (vines used for decorative purposes) to ensure they are part of the "Phylloxera Stop the Spread!" testing program.

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More than half a million people in Australia use the Snap Send Solve app to make almost 30,000 reports a month through the platform about public infrastructure issues to the right authorities for resolution.

Victoria's chief plant health officer, Dr Rosa Crnoy , said growers can use Snap Send Solve to self-report suspect vines.

"Agriculture Victoria will then undertake an inspection of the vine to confirm whether it is affected by phylloxera," Dr Crnoy said. 

"Agriculture Victoria will use the information gained from the Snap Send Solve reports to help them better manage phylloxera infestations on-farm."

Snap Send Solve chief executive offer and founder, Danny Gorog, said it made sense for agriculture to embrace the technology. 

"We are very proud to expand our role in the monitoring and management of phylloxera alongside Agriculture Victoria and the growers," Mr Gorog said. 

The app uses GPS to discover the precise location of a reported vine, and is geo-fenced, so that users can only report grapevines in the area Agriculture Victoria is surveying.

Free to download from the the App Store or Google Play, Snap Send Solve enables users to capture potentially affected vines in their location in under 30-seconds.

The steps are: