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Speaker 1: And we know that a highly pathnogenic and aggressive worm

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Speaker 1: which affects the crop yield of fruit and veggies, has

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Speaker 1: been detected in the top end. Now it's the first

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Speaker 1: time that the pest has been found in the country

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Speaker 1: and Chief Plant Health Officer doctor Anne Walters joins me

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Speaker 1: on the line to tell us a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Anne, Hello, how you going?

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Speaker 1: You're really good? Thank you And can you tell me

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Speaker 1: more about this worm.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's called guabo rootnot nematode. It's a microscopic pest

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Speaker 2: that we've found at four starts in Darwin. We found

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Speaker 2: it at middle Point, at Gingerly, at Malac and at Palmerstan,

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Speaker 2: so you can see that it has already is quite widespread.

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Speaker 2: What we did was we had a report from some

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Speaker 2: cucumbers that were basically failing, and obviously did some diagnostics

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Speaker 2: and it came back as this particular nematode.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and tell me exactly what kind of plants it's

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Speaker 1: targeting and the damage that it does.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's got a really widee which is why it's

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Speaker 2: such a devastating test and includes things like tomatoes, capsicaan eggplant, watermelon,

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Speaker 2: sweet potato, and potato, soybeans and cucumber and guava, so

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Speaker 2: it's got a really wide home post range. What the

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Speaker 2: pest does is, as I said, it's microscopic. It sort

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Speaker 2: of drills into the roots of the plant and it

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Speaker 2: will basically live there, and the plant's response is to

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Speaker 2: form these gauls on the roots, and over time, basically

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Speaker 2: the plant just starts to die. And what you see

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Speaker 2: is very poor yield. The plant's not looking good. And

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Speaker 2: it's not until you actually pull the plant out and

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Speaker 2: have a look at the roots that you see these

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Speaker 2: gulls on there that are typical of this particular path.

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Speaker 1: So, and you know, for us Layman's listening this morning,

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Speaker 1: does it impact Is it more of an impact for

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Speaker 1: consumers people sort of eating their fruit and veg or

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Speaker 1: for those growers, And yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: It's very much more an impact for growers, yep. But

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Speaker 2: it doesn't actually affect the produce. So it won't affect

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Speaker 2: necessarily the sweet potato unless you have really really bad infestation.

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Speaker 2: But generally for people like you and I who were

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Speaker 2: just eating our sweet potato, there's no real impact for us.

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Speaker 2: But it's the people that are growing the sweet potato

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Speaker 2: that have really reduced yields, and so they're growing plants,

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Speaker 2: but they're getting so fifty per cent of the yield

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Speaker 2: as an example, that's when it's a real impact on them.

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Speaker 1: How did you detect it in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, we were just really lucky. And this is where

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Speaker 2: the great relationship we have with growers are fantastic. Because

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Speaker 2: one of our growers contacted us and said, look, my

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Speaker 2: keycumbers aren't doing very well. Can someone come out and

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Speaker 2: have a look. And some of our plant pathologies went

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Speaker 2: out and had a look and said this doesn't look right.

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Speaker 2: It took some samples and this is what was coming

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Speaker 2: back with.

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Speaker 1: So at this point in time, do you have any

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Speaker 1: idea how it seemed up here?

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Speaker 2: No, it's a really interesting question. We've started doing some

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Speaker 2: tracing work. But the thing about this particular pest is

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Speaker 2: that it can move around, like I said, on the

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Speaker 2: roots of things. But the key movement pathway we think

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Speaker 2: is through soil, so people moving soil around, a loading

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Speaker 2: from soil into your trailer and moving it around. Alternatively,

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Speaker 2: it can move on soil and equipment and machinery as

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Speaker 2: well as on people's boots, so it can move really easily,

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Speaker 2: and that's where it's a really big problem.

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Speaker 1: So what steps need to be taken now to try

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Speaker 1: to stop the spread as much as we can.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So what we're telling people is to be really vigilant.

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Speaker 2: If you're moving from your place to someone's property, obviously,

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Speaker 2: just take care to clean your boots so that you're

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Speaker 2: not spreading it onto a commercial or orchard or property.

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Speaker 2: The other thing that we are asking our goal is

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Speaker 2: to do is be really careful with their biosecurity practices,

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Speaker 2: so you know, make sure that you've got your protocols

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Speaker 2: in place and that you're following them really vigilantly.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And what's surveillanceing is the department doing to really

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Speaker 1: try to stay on top of this and hopefully halt

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Speaker 1: the spread.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So what we are doing is we are asking

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Speaker 2: people to let us know if you notice that your

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Speaker 2: plants aren't looking too good and that you want someone

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Speaker 2: to come out alternatively, if you want to take example,

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Speaker 2: so if you want to pull some plants out and

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Speaker 2: tend in the roots. We'll obviously be really grateful for

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Speaker 2: samples that people can in and we're in contact with

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Speaker 2: our commercial growers just to get some samples from them

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Speaker 2: and to have them looking out for this particular path.

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Speaker 1: And you've touched on the different areas where you believe

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Speaker 1: this worm is at the moment, do you have any

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Speaker 1: idea how many properties it's impacting.

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Speaker 2: Well, they're the only four that we're aware of at

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Speaker 2: the moment, and so that's what a lot of our

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Speaker 2: work is, just getting people to contact us and say hey,

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Speaker 2: I'm a bit concerned and we can get some samples

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Speaker 2: from them. So that's probably the best way for us

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Speaker 2: to get as much information as quickly as we can.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, and so and is this worm like is

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Speaker 1: it in others? It's obviously in other parts of Australia

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Speaker 1: at the moment, but what kind of impact is it

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Speaker 1: causing in some of the places where it is already

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Speaker 1: been identified?

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately we are the first ones in Australia to find it. Wow,

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Speaker 2: big issue that we have. So it's the first time

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Speaker 2: it's ever been found in Australia before. There are other species, sorry,

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Speaker 2: other species of this particular nematody in other places, such

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Speaker 2: as in Queensland and New South Wales, but not this

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Speaker 2: particular one. Fortunately, this one is a very bad nematode.

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Speaker 1: Goodness me. So we're actually the first in Australia to

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Speaker 1: have this, and by the sounds of it, it is

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Speaker 1: a worry.

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Speaker 2: It is a real worry for us. Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: What you know is what's sort of been the feedback

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Speaker 1: then from some of those commercial growers and producers. They

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Speaker 1: must be pretty concerned at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, obviously industry is concerned. And the great thing

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Speaker 2: is we've only got the one commercial grower that's affected

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Speaker 2: at the moment. The other science are residential coperties and

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Speaker 2: a community garden, which is really great from that perspective.

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Speaker 2: The grower that is affected has been fantastic. He's looking

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Speaker 2: at alternative crops that he can plant because obviously the

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Speaker 2: issue that we have with his particular nematodi is that

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Speaker 2: it will stay in the soil for thirteen months even

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Speaker 2: after you remove the host plant. Yeah, so he's looking

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Speaker 2: to find another plant that he can plant during that

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Speaker 2: time and leave the soil so that the nematode will

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Speaker 2: basically die out. So he's been really fantastic, can pragmatic him,

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Speaker 2: very grateful for his response and his approach.

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Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, I think that every territory

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Speaker 1: in listening this morning is going to want to do

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Speaker 1: everything that they can to make sure that we don't

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Speaker 1: see this spread. You know, what can we do as

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Speaker 1: just ordinary territorians to make sure that you know that

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Speaker 1: we try to help out these growers and try to

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Speaker 1: do the right thing by them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fantastic, and obviously if the community can get

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Speaker 2: behind the growers, that would be amazing. If you do

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Speaker 2: have any concerns or any samples that you want to

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Speaker 2: send in to us, please contact Plant buy a Security

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Speaker 2: at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade and we

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Speaker 2: would be very pleased to answer any questions but also

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Speaker 2: to take any samples. Well.

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Speaker 1: Chief Plant Health Officer, Doctor Anne Walters, I really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning, and thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: sort of letting us know exactly what the situation is

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Speaker 1: with this worm. But you know, I guess also making

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Speaker 1: sure that we're all aware of the concerns here so

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Speaker 1: that we can do our best to try to support

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Speaker 1: our growers, but also make sure that if we are

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Speaker 1: concerned about any thing that's maybe our yards as well.

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming that it can also be spread into those

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Speaker 1: domestic sort of locations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, and so if people do notice anything

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Speaker 2: that's a little bit unusual obviously, please get in contact

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Speaker 2: with us and we will do everything we can to

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Speaker 2: try and support people through this time.

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Speaker 1: Doctor and Walters, thank you so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Such a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you