Pest READI: Regionally Enabled Agroecological Decision Intelligence

The investment is developing and implementing pest management systems that can respond to a range of current, establishing, and future interrelated pest challenges at both crop and landscape levels within an increasingly chemically-limited future. The project will build a prototype digitally-augmented landscape-level plant protection program to improve agri-pest preparedness and resilience for the Australian horticultural industry, including the incorporation of indigenous land practices with those of modern agriculture. The Northern Rivers (Bundjalung country) of New South Wales has been selected as the initial case-study region in partnership with the NSW Department of Primary Industries. The program will engage with local First Nations people who have managed Australian landscapes at that level for millennia, applying learnings to agricultural systems and to work with Australian horticulture industries to develop resilience against established and emerging agri-pest challenges.