Category: Australian Bananas Magazine

New information about the New South Wales banana industry is emerging as part of survey research. Rhyll Cronin reports. It’s taken dozens of phone calls, farm visits and mouse clicks but slowly an up-to-date picture of the NSW banana industry is emerging. NSW Banana Industry…

The discovery that a diagnosis of Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4) on a Mareeba banana farm was a “false positive” and the farm was clear of the disease prompted a major review of TR4 diagnostics in Queensland. The independent review by consultancy group Deloitte confirmed…

Two global experts on Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4) have advised on control measures for North Queensland and warned the upcoming wet season is a danger period. Professor Altus Viljoen, Chairman of Plant Pathology at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and Taiwan Banana…

Losses of Nitrogen continue to be a major environmental issue across agriculture. Can controlled-release fertilisers help banana farmers achieve best-practice targets? By Jeff Daniells, John Armour, Christina Mortimore and Stewart Lindsay   Targets set in the Reef Plan 2050 to improve water quality in the…

Tracing and surveillance work is a priority for the current phase of the TR4 response with a focus on properties found to have links to the first infested property, TR4 Response Program Leader Rebecca Sapuppo said. “The aim of the surveillance program is to detect…

Panama Race 1 isn’t supposed to infect Cavendish banana plants. So why is it killing them in an Indian growing district? Dr Thangavelu (Thanga) Raman and Jeff Daniells report on Race 1 causing widespread disease in Cavendish and research into biological controls. It was in…

After 30 years in banana research, Maroochy-based Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Senior Principal Scientist Sharon Hamill has been part of banana science advances, including in tissue culture. Sharon answers our ten life-science questions. What got you interested in the banana industry? Working in…