HIGH profile livestock issues such as foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease have dominated the conversation when it comes to agricultural biosecurity but grain pests have the potential to cause equally as significant economic damage.
Kym McIntyre, Queensland Grains farm biosecurity officer said Khapra beetle was public enemy number one from a grains perspective.
"Modelling shows that in the short term an incursion of Khapra beetle would be as bad for Australian agriculture as a small FMD outbreak," she said.
Speaking at the Australian Summer Grains Conference on the Gold Coast last week Ms McIntyre said the estimates were based on Australian not being able to export grain in the short-term.
"Should Khapra beetle be found in Australia there would likely be a blanket ban on all exports initially."
"If the outbreak was found to be confined to one particular area we may slowly see other areas free of the pest resume exports but it would be a massive impost for industry.
"When you mention biosecurity people's minds often turn to FMD or lumpy skin but a lot of invasive grains industry pests would be just as costly if not more so than the pests in the livestock sector."
Ms McIntyre's NSW counterpart Kate Glastonbury highlighted the need for biosecurity vigilance on all fronts.
Ms Glastonbury said there had a low level incursion of Khapra beetle in 2020 in NSW via non-agricultural imports.
She said the NSW biosecurity team had exhaustively tracked down any potential points of contamination, with 297 premises surveyed across NSW and the ACT, with the focus on imported fridges that may have carried the pest.
"We were lucky, we found some Khapra beetle skins but nothing more, but it highlights just how important our biosecurity measures are," she said.
Khapra beetle is found through India and the subcontinent, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and far south-eastern Europe.
It has spread more rapidly in recent years due to the global economy, hitching a ride on shipments of imported grain and other foodstuffs.
While generally a pest of stored grain it can be transported on general freight consignments, as happened with the NSW incursion.
Khapra beetle can cause up to 75 per cent losses in stored grain, not only through direct feeding but through contamination with cast skins and beetles that can potentially pose a health risk.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
