Latest updates
Latest news and events
Seasonal spotlight! Is your yellow Sigatoka management on track for the season ahead?
As temperatures rise and conditions become more favourable for disease development, now is an ideal time to assess your yellow Sigatoka management program. The winter and spring period provides a valuable opportunity to remove infected leaf material and improve canopy health before the onset of the wet season.
Recent seasons have presented plenty of challenges for banana growers across Queensland’s wet tropics. Persistent rainfall and high humidity have created ideal conditions for disease pressure, making proactive management more important than ever. Click here to read more.
Monitoring to improve supply chain handling
Monitoring data suggests there are opportunities to enhance post-harvest handling of bananas to deliver more consistent fruit quality. Information is now available on:
– Real-time monitoring to reduce banana waste
– Reducing banana chilling damage during transport
– Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)
A handy app, ‘Ripen Right’, is also now available. This interactive app is designed to support decision-making by growers and their supply chain partners. It helps reduce banana waste by predicting chilling injury risk and fruit ripening outcomes.
Click here for more information.
New grower case study!
Biosecurity in Action: Michael's story
On the picturesque mid-north coast of New South Wales, third-generation banana farmer Michael Singh is taking proactive steps to safeguard his family’s 30-acre farm near Woolgoolga. With devastating diseases like Fusarium wilt already impacting and continuing to threaten banana-growing regions, Michael has embraced biosecurity as a key focus of his farming practices. Determined to protect his livelihood and secure a future for the next generation, Michael’s journey highlights the importance of planning, collaboration and taking action.
Discover how Michael Singh improved his on-farm biosecurity measures and what inspired him to make these changes in our latest case study.
If you’d like to discuss biosecurity on your farm or need assistance connecting with other growers, please contact the DPI Banana Extension Team on 13 25 23 or email betterbananas@dpi.qld.gov.au.
Better Bananas is an initiative of the National Banana Development and Extension Program (BA25001). This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the banana research and development levy, co-investment from the Department of Primary Industries and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.
The project is supported by the Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC).
