On Thursday 3 September, the National Fruit Fly Council (NFFC) held the fourth and final National Fruit Fly Strategy workshop. Conducted online, the workshop provided an opportunity for participants who were unable to attend the Canberra, Gold Coast or Mildura events to contribute.

Across the workshop series, the project team sought to inform the Centre for International Economics’ (CIE) economic analysis of fruit fly impacts and capture stakeholder views on current and emerging fruit fly challenges and potential solutions. In total, feedback was gathered from more than 55 stakeholders nationally. These included biosecurity and market access specialists, policy makers, growers, agronomists, Peak Industry Body representatives and researchers.

Since the final workshop was held, the CIE have commenced their economic analysis with the draft report expected in the coming weeks. The NFFC project team have also commenced drafting the new National Fruit Fly Strategy, which will be further informed by the economic analysis once completed.

Based on stakeholder feedback, the strategy will focus on four key themes:

• Prevent Entry – ensuring exotic fruit fly incursions are detected, responded to and eradicated in a timely and cost-effective manner.
• Minimise Impact – adoption of diverse, low-input fruit fly management practices that reduce on-farm costs that maintain or improve market access.
• Market Access – strengthening domestic and international confidence in Australia’s fruit fly system, enabling growers to build on our reputation for high-quality produce.
• Strong Collaboration and Shared Responsibility – coordinated, cost-effective action by governments, industry, researchers and communities across biosecurity, fruit fly management and market access.

Once finalised, these documents will be provided to the NFFC members and other key stakeholders for additional feedback. The Council would like to thank the workshop attendees and those that provided additional information for the economic analysis for their participation and support.