Mountain Blue is a farming, genetics and marketing company. Focussed on developing, growing and licensing a range of berry fruits to growers around Australia and the world. The production system consists of 145 hectares of Blueberries across three sites in Northern NSW and one in Far North Queensland.
Prior to installing the RapidAIM traps Mountain Blue agronomists used the standard, manual fruit fly traps found in most orchards. These were checked on a weekly basis and trends were used to make decisions on the application of bait and cover sprays for Queensland Fruit Fly.
The RapidAIM system was implemented because the Mountain Blue team wanted a smarter way to monitor for fruit fly. They have reported that this saves the business time and labour costs. Real time data on fruit fly activity is now being delivered rather than a weekly summary showing only that fruit fly visited sometime in the previous week.
”Real time data gives us visibility to pest activity that we simply didn’t have before. Understanding not just the daily, but hour by hour changes in pest pressure allows us to make faster management decisions and has enabled us to quickly determine if our control strategies, such as baiting, are being effective. Prior to using RapidAIM, by the time traps were checked at the end of the week, the damage may have already been done.
Damien ClothierMountain Blue Agronomist
Fruit fly pose a significant problem to berry growers in Australia, with crops being vulnerable between fruit development and harvest. Depending on the variety this period ranges between May and January in Australian production systems. Being soft skinned fruit, berries are particularly susceptible to attack which can lead to both infestation and disease problems.
Agronomists and farm managers are continually faced with the challenge of protecting their crop and providing safe and responsible control. With smarter monitoring options growers are often able to select softer products and use them strategically so that they are less damaging to beneficial insects and the environment
”We would recommend RapidAIM to other growers because it is a smart solution which saves us time and allows us to better protect our crop. We are excited to see the next release of RapidAIM pest monitoring sensors.