What a month! We’ve engaged face-to-face with many stakeholders in Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia to progress with actioning the Plan with a focus to deliver on-ground activities. It was terrific to meet with everyone to discuss and see first-hand the significant impact feral pigs have across the country. More importantly, it is fantastic to see what is being done to manage this impact – and how we can add value.

As part of the Australian Government’s $400 million biosecurity support package in this year’s federal budget, $29.1 million in funding support will go to farmers and land managers to manage established pests and weeds. Further detail can be found in this joint release.

On 24 May, the Environment and Communications Senate Committee released the final report of its inquiry into the impact of feral deer, pigs and goats in Australia. We look forward to progressing these recommendations to better coordinate and support land managers to reduce the impact of feral pigs on our environmental, agricultural, cultural and social assets.

NFPAP Implementation Committee

The NFPAP Implementation Committee, independently chaired by Mr. Ricky Archer, CEO, North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), held its inaugural virtual meeting on Monday, 31 May to commence implementing the Action Plan.

The Committee’s immediate focus is to establish on-ground presence and build land manager awareness and support of the Plan. With this, we aim to liaise with a various community-led programs as demonstration / case study sites, with the support of regional coordinators to:

• Strengthen land manager participation;
• Increase the adoption of integrated, best practice management; and
• Promote planning and monitoring to inform management decisions

We will be working alongside governments, natural resource management agencies, indigenous groups, primary producers and others to progress with this.

Working to define and adopt key performance indicators for monitoring the Plan’s implementation and management programs was discussed by the Committee. The Committee also recognised that sustained investment models that encourage long term, feral pig management activities by land managers are needed. Ways in which this may be progressed will be discussed over the coming months.

Now the Implementation Committee has met, the Scientific Advisory Panel will be convened shortly to:

• Identify gaps and priorities in RD&E required to support the Plan’s implementation;
• Develop the RD&E feral pig strategy; and
• Develop appropriate performance measures to be used by land managers to measure impacts of feral pigs on targeted assets.

The Committee agreed that a national Indigenous Engagement Sub-committee should be formed to progress opportunities for the Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger networks to be involved, supported and contribute to the delivery of the Plan through their on-ground feral pig management programs. The sub-committee will be chaired by Mr. Murrandoo Yanner from the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and will be in place by late June.

The next meeting of the Implementation Committee will be held in early July.

Coordinated action and collaboration tackles pigs in the Burdekin

The RPMG has long championed the effectiveness of “cluster groups”, where local farmers join to improve the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of feral pig management. This delivery model continues to be rolled out strategically across the region, with the latest example involving a group of cane growers along Saltwater Creek near Ayr. To read more, click here.

Our thanks to AgForce Queensland for allowing us to share their stand at Beef 2021, held in Rockhampton from 2-8 May. Over the five days of this triennial event, attracting over 100,000 people, we engaged with countless beef producers and industry and government representatives as they passed by our display.

We discussed the Plan, its implementation and what is needed to reduce the impact of feral pigs on each stakeholder’s operations. Our interactions with stakeholders ensured we heard first-hand of their experiences in managing feral pigs, control strategies and ongoing challenges and frustrations being faced. The beef industry fact sheet “What’s the beef with feral pigs’’, put together for Beef 2021, can be found here.

Among the technology solutions supporting beef producers, it was exciting to see Tyrone Davis from Trackers Trap as one of nine finalists in the ‘’Pitch in the Paddock” competition, sponsored by EvokeAg. Tyrone debuted his feral pig trap in the Tech Yards, with the Prime Minister Scott Morrison assisting him with putting it up!

See: Rocky business brings homes the bacon with new feral pig trap, The Chronicle, 5 May 2021

Special thanks go to Stu Barker and Brett Otley from Wild Science, who organised our helicopter visit to Bulgul Aboriginal Land Trust, La Belle Downs (owned by AACo) and Litchfield (part of the Tipperary Group of Stations), to better understand the habitat, control strategies and extensive impact feral pigs cause in floodplain regions and wetlands. It was an extremely valuable and informative day for us all.

Feral pig impacts to mango producers

While a wallaby-proof fence erected on one side of the orchard has significantly reduced feral pig incursions, the other side borders on densely vegetated public land that contains numerous sinkholes.

When these sinkhole water sources dry up, pigs invade the mango orchard, digging up irrigation systems and wallowing under sprinklers. This leads to damage and disconnection of water lines, causing flooding and/or lack of water to trees. Feral pigs may also be able to reach lower hanging fruit on trees.

Costs to growers are significant, with yield losses estimated to be around $100 per tree, together with costs of maintenance and repair of irrigation systems. Public health risks are also of concern as no fruit can be picked up from the ground by workers at picking time.

South Australia and the Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication Program

John and Jess visited Kangaroo Island on 17-20 May to see the on-ground efforts of the Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication Program first-hand, including camera surveillance sites and HOGGONE baiting stations. They also attended the Program’s Steering Committee meeting. Collaborative and determined efforts are in place between the many stakeholders involved in the program (including Agriculture KI, National Parks and Wildlife, KI Landscape Board, KI Plantations, and local landholders).

Thank you to the KI Steering Committee Chair, Andrew Heinrich, for hosting John and Jess, and particularly Matthew Korcz, PIRSA’s Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication Program Coordinator, for coordinating this visit.

• Actioning the National Feral Pig Action Plan, Australian Pork Newspaper, May 2021
• DEWLP takes further aim at feral pigs in south-west, The Standard, 1 May 2021
• West Namadgi and Bimberi Wilderness close due to feral deer and pigs, Canberra Weekly, 2 May 2021
• New tool to tackle feral pigs, Mirage News 3 May 2021
• Farmers’ pleas answered with big bucks for biosecurity, The National Tribune, 4 May 2021
• Sodium nitrite – the new bait to tackle feral pig populations, Sporting Shooter 4 May 2021
• How feral pigs are being managed on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Department of Environment and Water 5 May 2021
• Landcare in Focus, Landcare Australia, May 2021, p.10
• Big concern about feral pigs at Toodyay, Farm Weekly, 10 May 2021
• Federal budget “shot in the arm” for ag, Beef Central, 27 May 2021
• Bacon preservative in magnetic boxes kills feral pigs in ‘humane, quick’ WA baiting trials, ABC Rural Online, 14 May 2021
• Senate calls for action on pigs, deer, SouthBurnett.com.au, 20 May 2021
• Wild Duck Island to protect vulnerable nesting turtles, Mirage News, 23 May 2021
• New regulations for vertebrate pest poisons, The National Tribune, 24 May 2021
• Funds needed to stop advancing army of deer, pigs and goats: parliamentary inquiry, Stock Journal, 26 May 2021

Visit the NFPAP website here: https://feralpigs.com.au/

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