Community volunteers boost Otago Velvetleaf operation
Tuesday April 19,
2016
Community volunteers boost Otago Velvetleaf operation
Community volunteers are
joining Otago Regional Council (ORC) staff and their
counterparts from other agencies, to help rid the invasive
pest plant velvetleaf from fodder beet crops in the Otago
region.
The major biosecurity response, led nationally
by the Ministry of Primary Industries, has so far involved
up to 20 ORC staff inspecting 1800 hectares of farmland in
Otago, confirming the presence of the velvetleaf weed on 38
affected properties throughout the region.
ORC
director environmental monitoring and operations Scott
MacLean said ORC staff had begun inspecting a further 76
properties covering about 1100ha of fodder beet crops
possibly contaminated with velvetleaf.
“It’s a
race against time, because farmers want to start using their
fodder beet crops for stock feed. However, thanks to the
involvement of volunteers, we should have inspected all the
remaining properties by the end of this week,” Mr MacLean
said.
He said the input from about 40 volunteers this
week, including farmers and students from Lincoln
University’s Telford campus, would be welcome cavalry for
the ORC staff who have been working long hours, in many
cases seven days a week.
Mr MacLean said the focus is
now on South and North Otago, with most inspections in
Central and West Otago having been completed.
He was grateful for the efforts of grain and seed agents from various companies who had voluntarily helped in the West Otago response, and to the wider community for their efforts.
“The velvetleaf seed can remain active in
the soil for up to 60 years. Every time it is disturbed, it
risks spreading any seed which may have dropped from the
plant. This means farmers will need to remain vigilant over
the coming years even if the velvetleaf plants have been
removed,” Mr MacLean said.
In areas where farmers
needed to use fodder beet for stock feed, they were being
encouraged to put in breaks to restrict the ability of stock
to disperse velvetleaf seed.
Removing velvetleaf was a
painstaking task which had to be done by hand, rather than
by spraying, because the feed crops would soon be used soon
for winter grazing.
“We are continuing to work with
MPI, Asure Quality, Environment Canterbury, the farming
community and our wider community, to ensure we can
eliminate this pest,” Mr MacLean said.
In recent weeks, ORC staff had been supported by staff from the Hawkes Bay Regional Council and a Hawkes Bay environmental consultancy (Habitat Biodiversity and Pest Management Ltd), and botany students from the University of Otago.
MPI has
developed a farm management plan to assist landowners with
affected paddocks restrict the spread of velvetleaf to other
areas of their property.
The plan and other
information on combating velvetleaf is available on the MPI
website – www.mpi.govt.nz
ends