Information provided by Hort Innovation

Access to crop protection products is becoming more complicated and challenging for Australian banana growers.

It’s a trend being felt across all of horticulture, driven by health and safety of people and the environment, tighter regulations, increasing data requirements, and growing global scrutiny of agrichemicals. There’s no silver bullet here, and solutions are taking more time and requiring more evidence and investment than ever before.

What’s happening right now in bananas

There is a significant amount of work under way to protect and expand crop protection options for the banana industry.

Some key projects include:

• Spider mite control – work is progressing to support a label addition or permit, with trials being developed and a target low withholding period.
• Thrips and caterpillar pests – insecticide trials are underway (including bell injection and bunch spray methods) targeting banana scab moth, flower thrips and rust thrips.
• New chemistry opportunities – AgVet grant applications have been submitted for several actives targeting rust thrips, flower thrips, spider mites and other pests. Successful applications will be advised by June 2026.
• Exploring alternative approaches – research is also looking at new use patterns, biologicals and even unregistered options (such as sodium hypochlorite for sooty blotch) to expand the toolbox.

Not every idea progresses. For example, work on sulphur and talc for thrips control was halted following negative industry feedback. This feedback is critical as it ensures investment is focused on solutions that are practical and effective on-farm.

The role of minor use permits

As bananas are classified as a major crop, access to chemicals through the minor use program is becoming increasingly difficult.

Minor use permits are for minor use situations where no relevant registered products or use patterns exist and registering the use pattern would not produce sufficient economic return.

Even though bananas are a major crop, certain uses within bananas can still qualify as “minor use”, like infrequent use of a product for the control of a minor pest or disease or use of a product for the control of a minor pest or disease where the use is restricted to a small proportion of the crop.

Minor use permits are not easy to secure, nor are they a long-term option. The process is detailed and evidence-heavy.

Applications must demonstrate:

• Scale of use (area treated, amount of product used)
• a genuine industry need
• lack of suitable alternatives
• limited or specific use patterns
• problem distribution and frequency

Approvals can take 8–12 months, sometimes much longer, especially where new trial data is required. On top of this, renewals are not guaranteed. Increasingly, regulators are asking for more granular data, down to grower numbers or product sales data, to prove a use is truly ‘minor’.

The cost of keeping products available

Generating the data needed to support permits or label extensions isn’t cheap.

This is where AgVet grants play an important role. These grants help fund efficacy and residue trials, which are essential for both new permits and maintaining existing ones.

However, there are no guarantees that applications will be successful as the process is very competitive.

The grants often don’t cover the full cost of required trials. That means industry investment is often still needed to get outcomes across the line.

Identifying gaps before they become problems

Another key tool is Hort Innovation’s Strategic Agrichemical Review Process (SARP).

SARPs take a step back and look at the full picture, identifying:

• key pest, weed and disease priorities
• gaps in current control options
• potential future risks to existing chemicals
• and opportunities for new or alternative solutions

For growers, this work is important because it helps flag issues early – before a chemical is lost or a pest becomes harder to control.

Regulatory demands are increasing, and access to crop protection products is likely to become more constrained over time.

A range of opportunities for investment are being explored including new technologies and biologicals; improved integrated pest and disease management (IPDM); and better ways to support ongoing access to key products.

It’s a complex and ever-changing space, and one in which industry, Hort Innovation and other stakeholders must work collaboratively to achieve practical outcomes.