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New lettuce crop
protection toolkit
David Troldahl
District Horticulturist (Vegetables), NSW Department of Primary Industries, Yanco Agricultural Institute
Thirteen years of crop protection research and extension
work has been compiled to provide lettuce growers with
comprehensive information about pest and disease
management for their crop.
The new Lettuce Crop Protection Toolkit is a multimedia DVD
that brings together a comprehensive range of text and video
information about crop protection for all lettuce producers
across Australia.
The DVD includes seven case studies of how individual lettuce
growers from different geographical regions deal with various
challenges that arise while growing a lettuce crop on their
farms, such as insect pests and diseases. The farms used in the
case study range from 100% hydroponic production to large
area field production of all types of lettuce.
The DVD also contains a wide range of relevant resources
that have been produced from previous Horticulture Australia
Limited (HAL)-funded lettuce projects and any other up to date
publications relevant to lettuce crop protection. There are also
some newly created resources that are included under the
‘Factsheet, Posters & Books’ section, these are: insect pest and
disease calendars for a range of areas in different states, handy
guides for each major production region, and a workbook for
reviewing major pests (insects, diseases, weeds) on farm and
how improved sanitation may reduce crop damage.
The Lettuce Crop Protection Toolkit is a multimedia DVD
containing a wide range of text and video material. The DVD
has been sent to all commercial lettuce growers around
Australia.
The Lettuce Crop Protection Toolkit has been produced as part
of the Ltd HAL-funded project Delivering IPM for the Lettuce
Industry. The production of the toolkit is the culmination of
thirteen years of research and extension work carried out by
a team led by Dr. Sandra McDougall from NSW Department of
Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Yanco. The team included other
NSW DPI staff, lettuce growers and consultants, with support
from partner organisations, HAL, Queensland Department of
Primary Industries and Fisheries, West Australian Department
of Agriculture and IPM Technologies Pty Ltd.
The lettuce IPM project team acknowledges that this DVD in
itself is not going to dramatically change pest management
practices. However a key component of improving management
of pests, including insect pests, diseases, weeds, nematodes
and vertebrate pests, is information. Information on how key
pests get into crops, what eats them, their lifecycle, when are
they are vulnerable to which available control options, and the
impact of those control options on other pests or their natural
enemies.
Katrina Hodgkinson, NSW Minister for Primary Industries (left) launched
the Lettuce Crop Protection Toolkit at Yanco Agricultural Institute in
early February. The Minister is pictured with Sandra McDougall and
David Troldahl.
Information or knowledge is the basis of Integrated Pest
Management and the new Lettuce Crop Protection Toolkit
delivers the key information resources from four NSW DPI-led
Lettuce IPM projects, as well as information resources from
other lettuce RD&E projects.
David Troldahl
T: 02 6951 2546
M: 0447 276 997
E: [email protected]
IREC Farmers’ Newsletter – Large Area No. 186: Autumn 2012
Further information
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