Aussie app to protect wine industry

An app called Snap Send Solve is being used to help protect the Mornington Peninsula wine industry from biosecurity threats, namely phylloxera.

Phylloxera is an insect that can devastate a commercial grapevine and is transferable between vines, both commercial and amenity. However, amenity vines, often found in households or public places for decorative purposes, are difficult to locate.

The Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Association (MVPA) and Agriculture Victoria are addressing this issue using the Snap Send Solve platform. Users can report the location of an amenity vine in under 30 seconds so Agriculture Victoria can undertake an inspection. The app uses GPS to discover the precise location of the reporter and is geofenced, so that users can only report amenity vines in areas that Agriculture Victoria is looking to survey.

“We’re calling on residents to use this app and notify Agriculture Victoria of the location of any grapevines in public places in their town,” said Tyson Lewis, Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Association Technical Committee. “All commercial, hobby and amenity vines needed to be checked, but amenity vines (those growing in public places) are the hardest to locate.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/BretRobertson