Australia's grain industry is halfway through a five-year programme to get ready for exotic pests and diseases, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) says dozens of projects are now under way to detect threats faster and forecast their impact.
The risk is growing with trade. Australian ports handled more than 9.1 million standard containers in 2024-25, most of them imports, according to Infrastructure Australia, and imports through Brisbane, Fremantle and Adelaide are forecast to rise by 34, 55 and 66 percent respectively by 2029-30. A significant exotic incursion would cost the grains industry about $100 million on average in crop damage, control and lost trade, GRDC estimates.
The National Grains Diagnostic and Surveillance Initiative, set up in 2024, is a $54 million co-investment by GRDC, the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the agriculture departments of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It also aims to help growers manage pests and diseases already present in the country.
Its work falls under four themes. The first makes quantitative PCR (qPCR) and high-throughput sequencing the industry's diagnostic standards: qPCR measures a specific DNA or RNA fragment in a sample, while sequencing can identify a mix of pests, diseases and beneficial organisms from one sample, such as the catch from an insect or spore trap. Tests are being built for 38 exotic and 30 endemic pests and diseases. The second theme develops in-field or near-field systems that can identify 15 exotic and 20 endemic species in under 48 hours.
The third theme reviews the risks posed by high-priority exotic pests so that import and post-entry quarantine rules stay fit for purpose as trade and climate change. The fourth works on forecasting, including models for key pests such as the diamondback moth and surveys of how endemic pathogens vary within growing regions.
Presenting the update at the 2026 Plant Biosecurity Research Initiative symposium, GRDC biosecurity manager Dr Amy Koschella said the programme had also brought state and federal departments closer together. "There's been great collaboration and information sharing between the jurisdictions," she said. Key tests will be validated in several states, which she said would confirm their accuracy and train more laboratories to run them.
Photo: Judy Gallagher / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Global Agriculture
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