Development of an Integrated Pest Management Program for the NSW Rice Industry

(DPI) The Crown in right of the State of New South Wales acting through the Department of Primary Industries within Regional NSW

  • Project code: PRO-013220

  • Project stage: Current

  • Project start date: Friday, October 29, 2021

  • Project completion date: Sunday, February 16, 2025

  • National Priority: RIC-Agronomy and farming systems

Summary

This project involves developing improved techniques for managing both native and introduced pests that threaten the sustainability and productivity of the NSW rice industry as it adjusts to declining water availability. The project is focused on native armyworm species, as well as the recently introduced fall armyworm (FAW) and Russian wheat aphid (RWA), with only a minor component of the work on rice snails. Overall, the goal is to better understand the impact of native armyworms and RWA on rice production, and to identify and develop new selective control methodologies for all pest species in order to assist the industry to move away from older broad-spectrum chemicals (many of which are under regulatory review) and develop a sustainable IPM program for the future. The project will help ensure that pests are treated only when necessary, and when cultural or biological control options are either unavailable or unable to be integrated into the production systems being used by individual farmers. Where chemical interventions are unavoidable, this project will contribute to ensuring growers have access to selective and sustainable treatments that have minimal impact on beneficial species and crop resilience to reinfestation. This project also incorporates a significant capacity-building component, as it will allow the Lead Investigator to train a new staff member, Dr Jessica Hoskins, in rice pest research techniques so that she can provide research support to the rice industry after the Lead Investigator retires.

Program

Rice

Research Organisation

(DPI) The Crown in right of the State of New South Wales acting through the Department of Primary Industries within Regional NSW