SoilCare Workshop Wrap-Up
Biocontrol, Climate Tools, and Future-Ready IPM
The recent SoilCare Workshop at Wollongbar (July 2025) brought together around 80 growers, advisors, scientists, and hort innovators with a shared interest in regenerative agriculture and sustainable pest management. Among the attendees were Pest READI team members Abex, Tracey and Hazel.
The program for the SoilCare workshop, our host Bonnie Walker, and the fantastic crowd for the day.
The importance of co-design and integrating knowledge systems
Pest READI Project Leader Dr Hazel Parry and Innovation Facilitator Dr Tracey Steinrucken presented a talk highlighting our co-development methods, findings from the Rapid Diagnostic Study, and recent efforts to co-develop our new Hort360 IPM Module supported by GrowCom, and field tested with Northern Rivers stakeholders over the past few weeks. The presentation covered he need for co-development with community, end-users and across industries to face the challenges that are often shared, but don’t necessarily have coordinated action plans. We also promoted a Macquarie University-led pilot study on IPM information sources and decision making – an integral part of understanding how decisions on pest management are made in the region..
David Hinchley (Jagun Alliance – a Pest READI Partner) underscored the importance of First Nations land management, including cultural burning and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). These practices not only protect Country but reduce pest pressures and build long-term ecosystem resilience – values aligned with Pest READI’s commitment to co-design and place-based solutions.
Hazel Parry and Tracey Steinrucken introducing Pest READI and speaking about the importance of co-designing for AW-IPM, and David Hinchley, Pest READI Partner, discussing the activities of Jagun Alliance and the cross-over of IPM with Caring for Country.
Highlights from the field and lab
Prof Dean Metcalfe (Plant Pathologist, Biocontrol Australia) shared decades of experience with biocontrol of soilborne diseases, including the use of Trichoderma, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas in crops like onions, grapes, avocados, and tobacco. His insights into compost inoculation, root protection, and practical delivery mechanisms (e.g. millet seed drilling) offered exciting potential for Phytophthora management in tree crops.
Dr Saleh Adnan (Research Entomologist, NSW DPIRD – a Pest READI Partner) introduced a conservation biological control approach for Rubus pests, highlighting the value of SNAP resources (Shelter, Nectar, Alternate prey, Pollen) in supporting natural enemies. Trials combining biocontrol agents, mass trapping, and flowering plants like zinnia, basil, and buckwheat showed strong promise, particularly during early and late vegetative stages.
Dr Kirsten Ellis (SCU) shared insights from her PhD on the biology and ecology of macadamia lace bugs, highlighting the lack of effective biocontrol options and the current need to use available pesticides. Unlike the US and Europe, where chemicals are reviewed every five years, Australia’s APVMA system depends on new data being submitted to trigger reviews. This is highly relevant to the motivations of Pest READI – the need to manage pests in a ‘chemically limited’ future. Kirsten discussed trials with commercial predators like ladybirds, green lacewings, and Orius bugs – the latter being the only predator to attack adult lacebugs. However, non-commercial options like spiders, brown lacewings, and hoverfly larvae may be even more effective and require additional research. With climate change and off-season flowering potentially shifting pest pressure, there’s a clear need for cold-tolerant, lifecycle-specific biocontrol strategies.
Dean Metcalfe being thanked by David Forrest (SoilCare Board Member), Saleh Adnan and Kirsten Ellis presenting their work on conservation and insect biocontrol agents respectively
Smarter tools for smarter decisions
The workshop introduced participants to MyClimateView, a free online tool designed by CSIRO and BoM to help farmers and advisors access multi-decadal climate projections. Drs Steven Snow and Yuwan Malakar (CSIRO) started by clearly distinguishing between weather (short-term), forecasts (1 week), seasonal outlooks (1-3 months), and long-term climate patterns (30+ years). Users select their location and their commodity. MyClimateView combines climate forecasting with information about agricultural parameters to project the change in days available for (as an example) flowering, pollination etc. While macadamia is not currently listed, the tool allows for parameter modifications – such as using avocado as a proxy – which are saved in-browser for future use. There’s strong potential for integration with Australian Tree Crop mapping and other decision support platforms. As erosion risk is projected to increase in some areas, this tool could be a valuable addition to area-wide IPM planning and long-term risk forecasting under climate change.
A macadamia industry pest management and forecasting project, led by Drs Tania Yonow and Darren Kriticos from Cervantes agritech, is building robust models for key macadamia pests like FSB, BSB, seed weevil, Leptocoris, and lace bug. These models link phenology (BBCH scale), pest lifecycles, climate variables, and economic thresholds, and are being incorporated into a Shiny App-based decision support system (DSS).
Darren emphasised the need for real-time, farm-specific pest forecasting, not just new apps. They’re looking into integrating tools like MyClimateView, which provides long-term projections, and existing DSS frameworks for other crops to simulate management options, forecast pest risks, and support cost-effective biological control decisions.
A huge thank-you to the SoilCare Board and event organisers for hosting us at this great workshop. Many valuable conversations were had and new connections made.
What’s next for Pest READI?
This workshop reinforced the momentum around:
- Region-wide, climate-aware IPM and biocontrol
- Decision support systems co-developed with industry
- Building trust through crowd-sourced surveillance and shared tools
- Deepening collaborations across macadamia, avocado, berry and other industries
Want to get involved?
If you’re interested in trialing the new Hort360 IPM module, participating in Pest READI activities, or learning more about our pest management case studies, reach out to the team via email pestreadi@csiro.au.
If you’re a grower or advisor in the Northern Rivers, you can visit this page to complete the Macquarie University Pilot study about pest management strategies and information sharing practices among horticultural growers.
Together, we’re building the foundations for an adaptive, informed, and connected IPM future.