Tuesday, 21 January 2020

2019 was a record-breaking year for the nursery industry, with sustained growth seeing the total value of the sector reaching $2.4 billion.

It was also a busy year for the industry, a year which saw the launch of Greener Spaces Better Places, the national Tree Stock Roadshow tour, the progress and commencement of several levy-funded projects, and more.

In order to deliver this information to stakeholders, a library of resources is developed through the ‘Nursery industry communications program’ (NY18001) to share updates on marketing, R&D and general industry updates.

Whether it be grower case studies, videos, newsletters, blogs, nursery papers or media releases, a variety of mediums are used in order to ensure that the nursery community are in the know when it comes to how their levy is spent.

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Friday, 10 January 2020

The nursery levy funded project, ‘Industry extension and development of Plant Life Balance’ (NY18005), works to promote the value of greenlife in our homes, businesses and broader communities.

As part of this, Plant Life Balance has two initiatives underway:

1. The release of a 2020 Plant Predictions Trend Report, a new output that’s the first of its kind in Australia, and
2. A consumer-facing event series, ‘Plant Tales presents: Plantasia’.

2020 Plant Trend Report

According to the 2020 Plant Life Balance Trend Report, 18 million Australians have purchased a house plant in the past year.

People are increasingly recognising the social, health and environmental benefits of surrounding themselves with greenlife.

The Plant Life Balance team undertook extensive desktop research and interviews to better understand this relationship between people and plants!

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Name: Vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae

Vegetable leaf miner (Liriomyza sativae) is a fly that has a wide host range and can cause significant damage, reduce crop yield and marketability of many common horticultural crops and ornamental plant species.  It is present in north Queensland and is likely to spread.

Some economically important weed and cultivated crop hosts include squash, okra, pea, tomato, bean, cabbage, turnip, potato, tobacco, cotton, radish, spinach, watermelon, beet, pepper, alfalfa, clover, vetch and plantain.

Similar to: Other leaf mining flies More

The American serpentine leafminer (Liriomyza trifolii) is a small fly belonging to the family Agromyzidae, that infects plants from 29 plant families including many ornamental, vegetable and legume crops.

Though not yet present in Australia, Liriomyza trifolii poses a significant threat to our horticultural sector.

AUSVEG Biosecurity Officer Madeleine Quirk, shares an update on these pests and the threat it poses to the Australian sector.

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It has been a horrific beginning to the fire season, with worldwide attention focusing on the severity, size and early nature of the bushfires affecting much of the eastern states.

With many months left to go this fire season, it’s not too late to develop and execute proactive risk management plans, even for those nursery businesses that may not be near typical high-risk areas.

Whilst production nurseries may not be able to influence significant risk factors such as weather or the gradient of the land, the amount of fuel available to burn is one area where nurseries can take immediate action.

Effectively managing any volatile fuels such as grass, fallen leaves and bark from around farm buildings will lower the intensity of the fire, should it occur.

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