Preparedness for a potential detection of Asian citrus psyllid

Background

Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) Diaphorina citri is the vector of the exotic and potentially devastating disease, citrus greening (AKA Huanglongbing/HLB). Preparedness for a potential detection of ACP is important due to the Northern Territory’s close relative proximity to countries to our immediate north that have both the vector and the disease, specifically Indonesia, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea.

This project is supported by Grains R&D Corporation, through funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program and Cotton R&D Corporation, Horticulture Innovation Australia, Wine Australia, Sugar Research Australia and Forest & Wood Products Australia.

Overview of the workshop

As part of the project, Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade will be hosting a couple of single day workshops on trapping and identification of ACP, the vector of citrus greening. The workshop will cover general information about ACP and citrus greening, differences in trapping methods for ACP and other psyllids, and how to distinguish ACP from other psyllids. The workshop will be catered, and interested citrus growers/workers are encouraged to attend.

A workshop at Katherine Research Station in Katherine will be held on Tuesday, 31 August 2021, and another will be held at Berrimah Research Farm Science Precinct on Tuesday, 7 September 2021.

How do I secure a place?

There will be caps on numbers due to COVID capacity limits but pending the level of interest, the workshop may be repeated in Darwin and/or Katherine. If you work in the citrus industry and are interested in attending the workshop in person in Katherine or Darwin, or virtually via Microsoft Teams, please get in contact with us at Plant.Pathology@nt.gov.au.