Banana farmer Mark Reppel is ‘elated’ but will not be changing more than one or two of the most onerous protocols he had to adhere to now that his Mareeba farm has been cleared of the Panama TR4 pathogen by the last of four stages of testing, the definitive Vegetative Compatibility Group test. “We’re not changing too much. We’re keeping all protocols in place for the foreseeable future. A lot of it is also just common sense,” he says. All 30 or so staff will also stay working at the farm. Quarantine was lifted on Mr Reppel’s two farms on Tuesday.
One thing that will be different is that there will no longer need to be an inspector at the Reppel's packing shed. “We still do current ICAL procedures and protocols,” says Mr Reppel.
The Queensland Government has made a commitment to reimburse the net revenue that Mr Reppel has forgone, and that of other farms that could not trade while quarantined. “I’m not interested in an immediate response, I’m interested in getting the right result, firstly in terms of the procedures that allowed this to happen, and then, of course compensation,” he says.
Growers to remain vigilant
The good news for Mr Reppel and his business, Repstar, comes at the same time as Biosecurity Queensland and the Australian Banana Grower’s Council issued warnings to other banana growers in the state to remain vigilant and continue best practice to avoid any further spread of Panama TR4. There is still one farm in Tully that has returned a positive result, so containment and surveillance procedures will remain in place. “Growers need to remember there is still one case of TR4 on a Tully Valley farm and this result has been confirmed using the highest level of TR4 testing available,” ABGC Chairman Doug Phillips said in a statement.
Mr Reppel also told media his good news was tempered by feelings towards the Robson family, whose farm has been found to contain TR4 in early March, and was also quarantined.
Acting Chief Biosecurity Officer for Biosecurity Queensland, Malcolm Letts, said that this was the first case where the third level of testing for TR4, known as PCR and first published in 2010, had returned a false positive. “Extensive investigative work by the diagnostic team involved in the testing indicates that the particular PCR test used isn’t reliable. To our knowledge this is the first time there has been evidence of a problem with this diagnostic test anywhere in the world,” he said. PCR involves growing tissue culture infected with the pathogen, inside a lab.
Deloittes has been engaged to conduct an independent procedural review into all Panama disease diagnostic systems and processes used by Biosecurity Queensland. That review should be completed next month.