What is biosecurity?

• Biosecurity is the management of risks to the economy, the

environment, and the community, of pests and diseases entering,
emerging, establishing or spreading.
• Biosecurity can be implemented off-shore, at the border and on-farm.
By implementing the recommended measures in your day-to-day
operations, you will improve your own biosecurity and that of your
region, while minimising production losses and unnecessary costs.
• . Biosecurity allows us to preserve existing trade opportunities and
provide evidence to support access to international markets.
 What is farm biosecurity?
• Farm biosecurity is a set of measures designed to protect a property from
the entry and spread of pests, diseases and weeds. Farm biosecurity is your
responsibility, and that of every person visiting or working on your
property.
• Producers play a key role in protecting Australian plant and livestock
industries from pests and diseases by implementing sound biosecurity
measures on-farm.
• If a new pest or disease becomes established on your farm, it will affect
your business through increased costs (for monitoring, production
practices, additional chemical use and labour), reduced productivity (in
yield and/or quality) or loss of markets. Early detection and immediate
reporting of an exotic pest or disease increases the chance of effective and
efficient eradication.
• The Farm Biosecurity program is an important part of Australia’s
emergency animal disease and exotic plant pest surveillance systems.
Surveillance allows us to preserve existing trade opportunities and
provides evidence of Australia’s pest and animal disease status to
support access to international markets.
 Regional biosecurity

• To strengthen the biosecurity measures implemented on your

property, consider including biosecurity issues and activities in
community or regional meetings.
• Promotion of biosecurity at the regional level is enhanced through:
broad engagement of the community
understanding the region’s vulnerability, the source and nature of
threats
a commitment from stakeholders to implement biosecurity measures,
surveillance and reporting.
• Implementation of farm biosecurity underpins regional biosecurity, which
in turn underpins national biosecurity
• A biosecurity action plan will help you identify and prioritise the
implementation of biosecurity practices relevant to your property. When
devising a plan for your farm, the biosecurity essentials are a good place to
start. The essentials are:
• Farm inputs
• Farm outputs
• People, vehicles and equipment
• Production practices
• Ferals & weeds
• Train, plan & record
 Isolation

• The most common biosecurity risk factor is the purchase of animals.

• New additions to the herd should be inspected carefully, screened,
and quarantined for infectious diseases
• A program to routinely and systematically monitor and survey the
herd for the presence of important infectious agents should be
implemented.
 Resistance

• The second important aspect of a biosecurity program is Resistance.

• Resistance includes nutritional, environmental, pharmacological and
immunological practices that improve the animal’s ability to resist
disease.
• These external factors coupled with the natural genetic disposition of
certain animals provide an animal with either increased or decreased
susceptibility to certain infectious diseases.
• . Antibiotics and immunizations have been the primary tool for
controlling infectious disease in the past.
 Developing a Biosecurity Plan
• In order to effectively begin to develop a biosecurity program it is
important to review the risk areas that may be present on a farm.
• Risk assessment helps to determine the areas or factors are most
likely to lead to the spread of infectious agents.
• Risk management is the second step.
• Here a preventive plan is developed and implemented.
• The final step the risk communication. In this step, all members of the
farm management team, suppliers, and service personnel are
informed of the plan to ensure cooperation and buy-in.