Fire blight scare spreads
By Jon Lamb
ADELAIDE — The SA government announced on May 22 that it would quarantine the Adelaide Botanic Gardens after it was confirmed that specimens taken from trees were infected with the fire blight bacterium.
Restrictions have been imposed on apple and pear orchards and storage facilities while tests are carried out at 2600 sites across the state. This follows the ban imposed by all states on Victoria on May 16 after the disease was discovered there. The bans prevent the shipment of fire blight host plants and fruit, including apples, pears and quinces.
Fire blight does not affect the eating quality of fruit, although it is possible for the bacterium to be spread via the fruit. It affects a wide range of ornamental plants in the Rasaceae family which are related to apples and pears.
Apple and pear growers have been deeply concerned about the threat of fire blight entering Australia, particularly after the federal government announced last November that it was reviewing the ban on the importation of apples from New Zealand, where the disease is present.
Dr Broc Zoller, a US expert on fire blight, warned Australian growers at the time that risking the entry of the disease was an "act of lunacy". He criticised quarantine officials and government agencies here for treating the fire blight threat far too lightly.
Zoller told meetings around Australia that within two years of the disease being introduced into the King and Fresno valleys in the US — which have similar climatic conditions to Australia — 98.9% and 100% respectively of pear trees in each valley were lost. The disease is also a major problem in Canada, South America, Britain, Europe, the Middle East and Japan.
This latest agricultural crisis is further testament to the stupidity of the funding cuts to federal and state quarantine services over recent years.