Your Levy at Work

June Pest of the Month: Camelia petal blight

Name: Camelia petal blight, Ciborinia camelliae (Syn – Sclerotinia camelliae)

Symptoms:

Camellia petal blight is not present in Australia. It is present in New Zealand, the United States and Japan, with a restricted distribution in parts of Europe and the UK.

Initial symptoms on petals include darkening of the veins and the appearance of small, brown, irregularly-shaped spots or blotches. These spots rapidly expand on susceptible varieties, until the whole flower is brown and dead. Affected petals are dry or leathery but do not crumble when handled. The darkening of veins gives flowers a distinctive netted appearance. Infected flowers normally fall intact on to the ground prematurely. Sclerotia (small black resting bodies) form at the base of infected petals several weeks after flower fall.

Projects to support a grower-led plant health system

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Growers in the Australian nursery industry are set to benefit from a number of projects aimed at enhancing on-farm crop monitoring, plant protection skills and pest identification and surveillance.

This includes a newly contracted initiative by the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR), as well as a suite of levy-funded projects commissioned by Hort Innovation.

Together, the projects will strengthen the industry’s plant protection and biosecurity efforts and provide growers with the latest tools to protect against, and prepare for, plant pests and diseases. More

Industry events: ‘Growing Together’ to promote urban greenspace

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Australian production and retail nurseries are invited to attend a special industry event in their local capital city, as part of the national ‘Growing Together’ tour.

Run by 202020 Vision, the team will present new research on community attitudes towards green space, and provide an update on marketing initiatives, Plant Life Balance and the next era of 202020 Vision.

The first event of the industry series will be held in Adelaide next Thursday, 30 May. Starting at 5pm, the event is free for growers, retailers and interested staff to attend, with light refreshments provided.

Industry will hear insights from 202020 Vision’s workshop held with developers and councils earlier that day in Adelaide, which aims to equip these groups with the latest research and resources to help communicate the benefits of green space to their respective audiences.

The Growing Together Tour will be making its way around Australia, with the upcoming industry events across the remaining states to be announced in the near future. More

Webinar: Benchmarking towards better business

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

A new tool for Australian growers to benchmark their business performance against other production nurseries, will be unveiled at an interactive webinar on Tuesday, 28 May 2019.

The tool aims to improve productivity by assessing core aspects of production businesses, such as turnover, wages and input costs, against those operating in similar segments across the industry.

It forms part of the Nursery Industry Statistics 2017-18 survey, which gathered data and insights from 292 greenlife producers and validated by an inaugural greenlife purchasers survey.

Free for levy payers, the tool enables growers to compare how their business is performing against the current national average, determine the market it primarily operates in through types of plants sold, and compares views on the future of our industry against peers.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops building capacity for plant protection

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Growers and production staff are invited to attend the latest series of upcoming biosecurity workshops,aimed at providing practical tips for improving plant protection from pest insects and mites.

Commencing in June, the workshops will be delivered by Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) as part of the nursery levy funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002).

DAF entomologists and pathologists will travel right across the country to provide informative workshops to nursery production staff on preventing pest damage using Integrated Pest Management (IPM). A range of topics will be covered, including: More

GREEN INDUSTRY GROWING LEADERS PROGRAM (2)

The Green Leaders program is underway!

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

The Green Industry Growing Leaders program kicked off in Sydney last week, with a two-day introductory leadership forum.

Led by management consultancy firm, The Right Mind, the program is funded by Hort Innovation using nursery and turf industry levies, and funds from the Australian Government.

This four-month professional development course, is designed to empower motivated representatives from the nursery workforce and support industry growth, by equipping participants with the tools to progress their career and business via explaining and the development of leadership skills.

For the 2019 program, 20 scholarships were awarded to turf or nursery industry levy payers, or workers at these businesses – 15 stemming from the nursery industry.