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Biosecurity is a shared responsibility says damning CSIRO report
Elizabeth Gracie
The CSIRO has confirmed that biosecurity should be a top priority for Australia with potential billion-dollar losses for agricultural industries in a concerning new report.
According to the report, Australia is at growing risk of increased disease outbreaks and pest incursions, weakened exports, and damage to Australia’s global trade reputation.
Released at the Australian Biosecurity 2030 Workshop, the Australia’s Biosecurity Future: Unlocking the next decade of resilience report showed that serious change was needed to meet the challenges of the future to protect Australia from the potentially devastating impacts of exotic pest and diseases.
National Farmers Federation (NFF) CEO Tony Mahar said the report was a sobering read and clearly demonstrated that Australia needed a more innovative, coordinated and collaborative biosecurity system if it is to keep up with the threat from increasing and severe biosecurity events.
“A strong biosecurity system is fundamental to the success of Australia’s $60bn agriculture sector - and to our ambition to grow to $100bn in output by 2030,” said Mahar.
“One single pest or disease incursion has the potential to bring our agricultural industries to their knees, and the COVID - 19 experience has brought home the message that biosecurity matters to all Australians and a biosecurity breach can have far-reaching economic, environmental and social consequences”.
NSW Famers President James Jackson said that whilst the findings of the report were concerning, they were not surprising.
“Australia has one of the strongest biosecurity systems in the world, but we can’t take this for granted as threats continue to evolve,” said Jackson.
“We live in an increasingly connected world, and even though human travel has diminished over COVID-19, our import volumes remain high and there has been an unprecedented number of parcels entering Australia”.
Ongoing threats the agriculture sector is grappling with include the avian influenza and fall armyworm, African swine fever (ASF), khapra beetle, brown marmorated stink bug, foot and mouth disease and Xylella fastidiosa.
Between January and April this year, more than 600 parcels were intercepted at Australian borders carrying meat products alone, a key pathway for ASF.
According to Mahar, if we look to the five years to 2017, the amount of biosecurity risk materials intercepted in Australia increased by almost 50 per cent, an indicator of what Australia should prepare for in the coming years.
“The biosecurity system must keep pace and this important new report provides expert advice on how the system can be transformed to meet the challenges of the future,” said Mahar.
He noted that the biosecurity system of the future needs to be built on system connectivity - digitisation and enhancing data sharing across supply chains and enabling the role of industry and community in biosecurity responsibility through improved community engagement, all key recommendations of the report.
Jackson said NSW Farmers were in support of the concept of biosecurity as a shared responsibility as stated in the report.
“We believe that supply chain participants who create biosecurity risks should invest in prevention and management of those risks,” said Jackson.
“Increasingly, improving our own biosecurity means investing overseas to mitigate biosecurity threats where they arise”.
“This report is a reminder that all Australians - governments, industry, the community - have a role to play in delivering a strong biosecurity system, and we strongly endorse that message,” said Mahar.
“The NFF will continue to call on the Australian Government to step up and ensure that the critical biosecurity functions it delivers to mitigate biosecurity risk at the border and pre-border are adequately resourced, innovative and fit for purpose”.
The report was developed by the CSIRO in conjunction with Animal Health Australia, Plant Health Australia and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions alongside a further 26 organisations across the biosecurity system; including Commonwealth and state governments, research, industry and non-government organisations.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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