Bec Stanley and Wayne Dymond from the Auckland Botanic Gardens share their experience about nursery biosecurity in a recently published article in the International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, Sibbaldia.
The article, "Reducing risk to wild ecosystems in nursery production : the Nursery Biosecurity Project at Auckland Botanic Gardens, Aotearoa (New Zealand)", is well worth a read for nurseries contemplating signing up to the Plant Production Biosecurity Scheme.
The decision to implement a biosecurity scheme came about in response to a review of the historic movement of the agent of kauri dieback, Phytophthora agathidicida (Beachman, 2017) in New Zealand. The review concluded that the pathogen was ‘almost certainly’ introduced to four kauri forest sites via contaminated potted seedlings raised at a forestry nursery in the 1950s.
Auckland Botanic Garden grows 65,000 plants a year for restoration of forests throughout the Auckland region. The realisation that a nursery could unwittingly spread such a devastating pathogen, whose effects may not be known for decades, led to the initiation of the Nursery Biosecurity Project at ABG in 2014.
In 2015 ABG enrolled in the (Australian) Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme (Greenlife Industry Australia, 2020) which promotes industry best practice. This enabled ABG to evaluate nursery processes through an environmental and biosecurity lens that was independently audited. In 2019 the ABG nursery was part of a pilot group for the New Zealand nursery biosecurity standards scheme, developed and run by New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated (2020).
Bec and Wayne note that both schemes provided an invaluable opportunity for critical analysis of each step of nursery production, development and documentation of best practice.
You can read the full article at the bottom of this page: Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link below: