Pest Management Practices in Australian Grain Production

Pest management is a critical part of grain production. Growers are faced with a diversity of pests that threaten the health and yield of their crops.

We are conducting a survey of grain growers and consultants throughout Australia to identify the major insect pests of grain crops and better understand the tools and strategies used to manage these pests. The results of this survey will help us to understand what Australian farmers do to manage insect pests in their grain crops, and their attitudes towards pest management. This information is important for us to assess current pest threats and management capability and enable us to tailor research, workshops and extension materials that lead to improved practice and higher yields.

The results of the survey will be used to:

1. refine research objectives on key pest species to develop better management tools for farmers

2. design farm trials that focus on effective and sustainable management practices for these key pest species which have genuine applicability in current farming practices

3. develop training materials and extension publications for farmers that address current IPM knowledge and adoption gaps

4. benchmark current practice relating to pest management for use in later assessments of the adoption of new innovative practices

Participation in this survey will require about 30 minutes of your time.  We are grateful for your contribution to this study. 

Participation in this survey is voluntary. As such you may end the questionnaire at any time without giving reason or justification. In this case your data will be deleted and not used in any way. Completion of the questionnaire will be taken as evidence of consent to participate in this study and that research data gathered for the study may be published provided your name or other identifying information is not used.  Results will only be published in aggregate form. The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and no data about you will be released by the investigator.

The Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Western Australia requires that all participants are informed that if they have any complaint regarding the manner in which a research project is conducted it may be given to the researcher or, alternatively, to the Secretary, Human Research Ethics Committee, Registrar’s Office, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia (telephone number +61 8 6488 3703).

Approval to conduct this research has been provided by The University of Western Australia, in accordance with its ethics review and approval procedures. Any person considering participation in this research project, or agreeing to participate, may raise any questions or issues with the researchers at any time.

Your participation in this study does not prejudice any right to compensation, which you may have under statute or common law. In addition, any person not satisfied with the response of researchers may raise ethics issues or concerns, and may make any complaints about this research project by contacting the Human Research Ethics Office at The University of Western Australia on (08) 6488 3703 or by emailing to hreo-research@uwa.edu.au.

All research participants are entitled to retain a copy of any Participant Information Form and/or Participant Consent Form relating to this research project.

Your responses are important to this project. Should you have any questions or complaints about this survey, please feel free to contact us.

Dr Helen Spafford (Project Leader)

School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009

Phone: +61 8 6488 7261

Email: helen.spafford@uwa.edu.au

Thank you for agreeing to answer our survey on Pest Management Practices in Australian Grain Production.

Survey: This survey contains demographic questions, questions about farming enterprises, pest management practices and attitudes towards pest management approaches.

Demographic Questions: These questions will ask your age, the type of farming enterprise you are involved with, the crops grown and other general background information. Providing some background information will ensure that the survey responses are representative of grain producers across Australia.

Pest Management Practices: What tools for pest management do growers use, how and when? These questions will ask you about the type of pest management tools that you use and how they are used. We will ask more detailed questions about the pests that you encounter in canola, cereal and pulse crops, your use of insecticides in these crops and other management tools that you may use in these crops.

We will also ask some more general questions about the Integrated Pest Management approach and your attitudes towards this approach.

The term "insect" in this survey refers to true insects as well as other invertebrate pests such as mites, slugs, snails, millipedes etc.