Australia: Seeking weed solutions for new rural industries

Small agricultural industries are a step closer to formal certification for the use of the chemical herbicides which are vital to weed-free production of their crops.

For many small industries – including coffee, olives, herbs, green tea, wildflowers and essential oils – the most suitable chemical for weed control may not be registered for use on those crops.

However, New Rural Industries Australia (NRIA) is now investigating the high-priority issues surrounding the minor use of herbicides, as part of the Federal Government’s National Weeds and Productivity Research Program, which is being managed by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC).

“This research will be vital in commencing the process to either achieve full registration of some chemicals on certain crops, or at least to gain minor use permits for those crops,” Principal Researcher Ian Chivers, of Native Seeds Pty Ltd, said.

Dr Chivers said the small size of the industries meant their needs were often not met in the full registration process that includes the trial work to test the chemicals on specific crops.

NRIA held a workshop in Brisbane last month to determine priority crops and chemicals, and the methods needed to support registration, such as on-farm trials.

The workshop was attended by representatives of many small agricultural industries, two large chemical companies, RIRDC, and the Government’s regulatory body, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

“Attendees learnt how chemical registration occurs, the steps necessary to achieve it for any crop, the steps to achieve and maintain a minor use permit, and how the regulator assesses permit applications,” Dr Chivers said.

“NRIA will now be taking up the case of several herbicides which could have widespread use to see what steps are necessary to achieve minor use permits for designated crops.

“We will also follow up to see if some of the manufacturers would be willing to seek label extensions for a few herbicides where sufficient data might already exist.

There are likely to be some field trials conducted to verify data on specific crops and the logistics of each of those trials will be determined in the near future.”

A workshop was also held to develop research proposals to investigate non-chemical or organic methods of weed control.

The Australian Government is providing around $12.4 million (GST inclusive) to more than 50 new projects under Phase 2 of the National Weeds and Productivity Research Program, including a number aimed at addressing issues surrounding the use of chemical herbicides.