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Best Practice for On-Ground Property Weed Detection

A large proportion of Australia is privately owned or managed by farmers and graziers, and yet no one has undertaken a comprehensive study to ascertain current weed surveillance levels and practices amongst these landholders.  Likewise, public officers in most states and territories have a specified inspection function for weeds but how the states compare in their effectiveness has not been known.  Information on existing landholder and weed inspector search patterns (particularly on their best and proven techniques) and data management and use, needed to be collected before we attempt to develop and extend more widely efficient methods for surveying and eradicating emerging weeds.  

Two national surveys were therefore undertaken, one of landholders and one of weeds inspectors to determine:

1. what the current inspection patterns are for weeds on Australian farms,

2. what steps landholders and inspectors take to report and obtain correct identifications of new species, and

3. which of these surveillance and reporting strategies are most effective at detecting, identifying and eradicating new invasions.

This project was conducted by Professor Brian Sindel, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, with the assistance of the Institute for Rural Futures.

The project was funded by the Defeating the Weed Menace R & D Program, managed by Land & Water Australia on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Related Project

Pathway Risk Analysis for Weed Spread within Australia

Contact: Michael Coleman