Twelve months after the launch of PestWebNZ, Agresearch scientists continue to develop the online tool.

'It's a battleground in the farm paddocks of New Zealand,” says AgResearch Scientist and project manager Dr Katherine Tozer. 'Changeable climatic conditions, poor pasture persistence and failure to forecast and implement timely pest management have all led to significant issues with insect pests and weeds throughout New Zealand. PestWebNZT gives those waging war against these pests a helping hand.”

PestWebNZ is a website developed to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and insect pest management. It provides independent and up-to-date information on the identification, biology, impact and control of key weed and insect pests relevant to the New Zealand pastoral agricultural sector.

There are currently 24 weeds and 17 pests on PestWebNZ, with information on their identification, biology, control and impact.

There is also an alert function, to warn farmers of pest issues in their region and suggest appropriate management responses. Since the website's launch at last year's Mystery Creek Fieldays 12 alerts have been released by Colin Ferguson (invertebrate pests) and Katherine Tozer (weeds) to registered users to provide timely information for farmers to avoid damaging weed and pest impact.

'We have taken a team approach to the project, starting with asking our key farming audiences: farmers and pastoral industry bodies, for a list of key weeds and pests,” says Katherine.

'Based on this list, weed scientists and entomologists wrote material for weed and pest pages on the biology, impact and control of these weeds and pests, including photos to better enable farmers and service providers to identify them.”

The project is funded by SFF, Beef and LambNZ, DairyNZ, regional councils, ag-chem companies and other agricultural service providers with many using the website in their own communications with farmers.

'This financial year we aim to have at least 50 pasture-based weeds and insect pests and we will be working on a mobile application which we hope to have launched by June 2014.”
'The growth of mobile devices being used on-farm is opening the door to having identification information available to farmers right there in the paddock. That information can be used to make identification and control decisions on the spot. It is an obvious development opportunity for the site.”

Visit the PestWebNZ website at www.pestweb.co.nz