This year we are fighting off the brown marmorated stink bug, which has already been stopped at the border several times.
If it becomes established in NZ it threatens not only our horticulture industry but also the home gardens of many urban Kiwis.
Other major threats already here include Chilean needle grass, the tomato-potato psyllid, Psa in kiwifruit, the guava moth, which is increasingly attacking our citrus industry, and Phytophthora agathidicida in kauri.
And don’t forget mealybugs, which transmit devastating viruses to vines and have now spread as far south as Marlborough.
Every new incursion or threat requires new solutions before, at and after the border.
Although agrichemicals continue to be a vital weapon in the war against pests and diseases our choices are reducing.
Fewer new synthetic pesticides are being developed now than at any other time since World War II.
Meanwhile, some products such as many organophosphates, are being banned worldwide.
Neonicotinoids, a major group of registered pesticides, are likely to be withdrawn from use in Europe soon.
It’s likely most pesticides withdrawn from use in Europe and the United States will also be banned in NZ, leaving a gap in pest control approaches.
Such bans are also likely to affect exporters, who must ensure their produce is residue-free.
Public concern about the use of toxins in food production because of possible harms to human and environmental health affects our markets here and overseas.
For all these reasons, lasting solutions to prevent damage to agriculture, horticulture and our environment must be based on research and bioprotection science.
Biological pest control is a key, acceptable and cost-effective method of bioprotection but even this is not infallible and needs continuous attention.
For example, for many years we have successfully controlled Argentine stem weevil – a serious pest in ryegrass pasture – with an introduced parasitic wasp, saving pasture-based farmers millions of dollars a year.
But that control is becoming less effective and Bio-Protection Research Centre scientists have shown it’s because the pest is evolving much more quickly than its parasite.
If this leads to increased pesticide use on grass crops that would be a severe environmental stress and could also affect how well our pastoral exports are received in more environmentally conscious markets.
The Bio-Protection Research Centre – a government-funded centre of research excellence – has a vital role to play in effectively managing any emerging or established threats to our primary industries because only science-based solutions will last the distance.
We have had recent and dramatic success in discovering science-based solutions, including finding sustainable ways to manage grass grubs and weta in vineyards, improving biological control of the disease-transmitting psyllid in commercial glasshouses and protecting our commercial forests from disease.
Our scientists, based at universities and Crown research institutes throughout the country, are investigating issues such as exactly how the Argentine stem weevil is evolving to avoid its parasite so we can use science to outwit it, why weeds such as dock have become so problematic in NZ but not in their home ranges and how pathogens such as Psa actually cause disease so we can use science to overcome them.
New pest threats to our primary industries and natural environment will continue to emerge, even as we develop ways to eliminate or manage existing ones.
Only by investing in world-class bioprotection research can we address these challenges in a truly sustainable and acceptable way.
The centre was established in 2003 to drive innovation in sustainable approaches to pest, pathogen and weed control.
It has seven partner institutes: AgResearch, Lincoln University, Massey, Canterbury and Otago Universities, Plant and Food Research, Scion and members throughout NZ.
