Currently, detecting diseases in sugarcane crops is an expensive, time consuming and lengthy process, usually undertaken in laboratories far from the field by experienced plant pathologists. This inhibits the ability of growers to rapidly and correctly identify and hence manage diseases in a timely way, and the industry to respond to endemic or exotic threats.

Development of a portable, easy-to-use, in-field device could offer cost-effective precise and rapid diagnostic capability for cane growers and advisors, leading to improved disease management across sugar cane and fellow plant industries. Initially, the project will finalise the prototyping of the device and begin optimising the molecular assays within it. The next step is optimising the entire device for on-farm analysis.