PestFax partnership proves to be productive
Grains pest and disease monitoring and reporting in Western Australia has been boosted by a new collaboration involving the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s PestFax service.
The department has joined with leading global online farm information management provider Agworld and Elders agronomists to enhance weed, pest and disease field intelligence.
The PestFax service is supported by the department and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
It relies on public reports of crop and pasture insects and plant diseases to raise awareness and prompt action in the WA grain industry.
Elders agronomists can now report observations to PestFax and Agworld simultaneously, while undertaking crop surveillance, improving both individual and collective responses to crop pests and diseases.
The partnership will disseminate valuable information more quickly so growers and the grains industry can prepare or take appropriate action to protect their crops from plant pests and diseases.
The PestFax interface collaboration demonstrates how data exchange across existing digital solutions can save time and provide improvements to grains industry knowledge.
One of the key considerations was to ensure the data entered by the users was anonymous to address privacy concerns.
The partnership aims to help growers make smarter business decisions that improve productivity and profitability.
Reports can be made to PestFax online or by downloading the free PestFax Reporter app.
The department’s PestFax team relies on field reports from landholders and the public, which is communicated to the grains industry via the PestFax newsletter during the growing season.
This opportunity has been made possible as part of the department’s eConnected Grainbelt project.
More information about eConnected Grainbelt activities is also available on the department’s website.