Chance discovery alerts wine industry to a disaster in the wind: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 25 July 2001: 3.
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Abstract
Identification of the pustules as grapevine leaf rust, a fungus endemic in northern Asia that kills leaves and retards vine growth, has rung alarm bells around the country.
Federal chief plant protection officer Bill Roberts said rust was spread by wind so easily that, during the1950s, rust on Australian wheat was blamed for turning New Zealand ski fields yellow.
While [Darwin] is far from the valuable southern vineyards, many grapevines grow in its suburbs, planted bythe city’s Greek and Italian communities. Wine Makers Federation of Australia policy director Stephen Strachan said the disease was of serious concern.
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A WIND-BORNE disease that threatens the nation’s $3.6billion wine industry has been discovered by accident in a Darwin backyard.
Small yellow pustules on a grapevine leaf caught quarantine officer Matthew Weinert’s attention while he was visiting friends.
Identification of the pustules as grapevine leaf rust, a fungus endemic in northern Asia that kills leaves and retards vine growth, has rung alarm bells around the country.
Six more vines infested with the disease, which can be spread hundreds of kilometres in a day by wind, have been discovered in northern Darwin and eradicated.
Owners of backyard grapevines are being urged to come forward to have their vines checked. Commercial growers and primary industry officers in the north of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland are also being warned about the disease.
A committee of 30 leading government and industry figures debated strategies to beat the disease during a nationwide telephone hook- up on Monday.
Territory plant pathologist Rex Pitkethley said it was hard to predict how the rust would behave in Australia.
“The disconcerting part is that it occurs in some cool temperate areas around the world, which gives us cause for concern that it could establish in the main grape-growing areas of Australia,” he said.
Federal chief plant protection officer Bill Roberts said rust was spread by wind so easily that, during the1950s, rust on Australian wheat was blamed for turning New Zealand ski fields yellow.
“(Grapevine leaf rust) is a disease of the tropics and, among the imponderables at the moment, we don’t know how effective it is in cool areas,” Mr Roberts said.
“We are taking the safest approach and assuming it will cause an impact.”
The disease may have arrived on the clothing or shoes of soldiers or travellers arriving from East Timor in thepast two years.
While Darwin is far from the valuable southern vineyards, many grapevines grow in its suburbs, planted by thecity’s Greek and Italian communities. Wine Makers Federation of Australia policy director Stephen Strachan said the disease was of serious concern.
“We are not ruling anything in or out,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of knowledge about the disease and it is a matter of looking at worst-case scenarios.
“The wholesale wine industry is worth $3.6billion. That is why we are taking it very seriously.”