Plant Biosecurity Awareness – the Biosecurity Warrior gets on board!
October 12, 2020
The Crawford Fund’s NSW Committee contributed to the development of the Plant Biosecurity Awareness Campaign for National Science Week and the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), and the NSW DPI celebrated plant health and biosecurity with assistance from their mascot, the Biosecurity Warrior.
A custom webpage and free activity pack were developed to engage kids across the state on the importance of plants and how they (and their parents) can become biosecurity warriors and protect our plants.
Crawford Fund mentor, Jordan Bailey, said “The website lets you explore a sick tomato plant, learning about the different organisms that cause plant disease and what you can do at home to help protect your backyard plants. The resources created for the page have already been useful in producing other educational materials and we hope to build on this foundation to create a complete education tool on plant, animal and ecosystem health and how good biosecurity practices help us protect them – at the government, industry and backyard level.”
The activity packs include a workbook all about plant health and how biosecurity protects us, a magnet promoting the plant biosecurity reporting hotline, a macro lens for helping you take great pics of suspicious pests and diseases, a warrior bandana, stickers and lollies. These packs are still available for ordering, visit www.biosecuritywarrior.eventbrite.com.au
“Plant health scientists also took part in our IYPH celebrations by talking to us about their role in protecting plant health. We had scientists that worked with fungi, bacteria and viruses as well as entomologists and threatened species officers,” said Jordan. These videos are available to view at https://www.thecorridorproject.org/science-hub
“Across our activities we have engaged over 1,700 people directly on the topic of plant health and plant biosecurity. We have had great feedback regarding the webpage, activity packs and scientist videos and live webinars. The general comments have been that the presentations and content were fun and engaging,” reported Jordan.
The Crawford Fund also worked with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) Network, and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) during National Science Week to produce three online and interactive panels. It was a great success! You can read all about it here.
