VegNET
Wide Bay Burnett
About the Project
Since 2016, Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers has successfully delivered the VegNET program in the Wide Bay Burnett region as part of a nationally coordinated effort to strengthen vegetable industry extension. Funded by Hort Innovation through the vegetable grower levy and coordinated nationally by AUSVEG, VegNET connects growers with the latest research, development, and best practice insights.
The Wide Bay Burnett regional focus areas of VegNET for the 2025-2026 year are as follow –
1. Efficiencies on Farm through AgTech & Practice Change
Helping growers reduce input costs and improve farm operations through technology and practical practice changes. This includes raising awareness of labour-saving tools, supporting technology adoption, and providing hands on R&D opportunities like mechanisation projects and study tours.
2. Promoting & Supporting Sustainable Farming Practices
Encouraging practices that improve soil health and reduce waste. Initiatives include soil health demos, sustainable alternatives to plastics, recycling programs, cover cropping, and exploring ways to add value to unsalable produce, supporting both profitability and environmental outcomes.
3. Coordination of Pest & Disease Management
Increasing awareness and preparedness for current and emerging pest and disease threats. Focus areas include monitoring tools, early detection technologies, integrated pest management training, and promoting biosecurity practices to protect farms and crops
In the Media
The Guardian Article | Thursday 19th April 2018
Robots, drones and sensors
WHERE in the world will you find a mechatronic engineer, a farmer,arobot and a decent egg and bacon sandwich all under the one roof? At the BFVG Agriculture Hub at Agrotrend!
Read More
Resources & Project Updates
2025 VegNET National Case Studies
2024 VegNET National Case Studies
2023 VegNET National Case Studies
2022 VegNET National Case Studies
VegNET Study Tours
Pests & Disease
Fall armyworm research, development and extension for horticulture |
Bacterial leaf spot of tomato and pepper |
| Management of bacterial leaf spot of tomato and pepper |
Is copper copper? Limitation in the control of foliar bacterial diseases in capsicums, chilli and tomato crops |
| Area-wide management of insect-vectored viral and bacterial diseases | Biofumigant Factsheet |
| Vegetable Leafminer Resources | Pest & Disease ute guides | Download |
| Varroa Mite resources | Pollination Guide | For futher information visit National Varroa Mite Management Program | ToBRFV info Tomato brown rugose fruit virus detection | Business Queensland |
Soil Health
Cover Crops in the Wide Bay Burnett
Fact sheet series: Building resilience to climate extremes
Trials
AMBIT Robotics have come onboard with the VegNET program in the Wide Bay Burnett to highlight the benefits to growers of having a well monitored crop, with the AMBIT robot working in Carter & Spencers Greenhouse facility at Moore Park and soon to commence phase 2 of the project at United Wholesale Growers.
This program is the first in Queensland for AMBIT & only their second commercial application of their robot in Australia. The crew have spent the past few months fine tuning & setting up the robot for its operational commencement in February, the 2 trials will monitor both Continental cucumbers and Eggplant crops at these protected cropping facilities.
The program aims to increase grower awareness of setting fruit, right through to harvest with the program giving daily updates to the grower manager of the facility. The project also aims to predict sales figures and labour requirements for each weeks harvest.
RapidAIM has teamed up with VegNet RDO & Hinkler Agtech Initiative to link in with growers in the Wide Bay Burnett to establish the first Automatic Fruit Fly Forecasting network, with over 30 traps deployed, across 8 farms throughout, Bundaberg, Childers, Wallaville & into the Burnett.
This program, developed by RapidAIM, is designed to showcase their product to the growers in the region, the hands-free, highly accurate and near live assessment of their mobile app based software & trapping systems. The program allows anyone in the region to access the forecasting data for the 2023 season.
To view this data, click on the link 
http://bit.ly/3HhYjst
Biosecurity
A plan helps you identify risks and decide how to manage them, leading to:
- Reduced risk of new pests and diseases
- Lower management costs
- Maintained market access
- Faster response and recovery
This guide helps you develop a biosecurity plan tailored to your business. It includes practical tools to identify risk pathways, assess current practices, and map your property to implement effective strategies
WEBINAR: Growing biofumigants – what variety and when | January 2020
In Part 1 the discussion focuses on:
- Biomass produced – how well they grew
- Glucosinolate production – how ‘hot’ was the biomass
WEBINAR: Growing biofumigants – what variety and when | January 2020
In Part 2 John discusses the following:
- Any pest and disease issues during growth
- Early indications of their impact on some soil-borne diseases.
InfoVeg: Vegetable Leafminer update | October 2018
The Vegetable leafminer is a pest of agricultural concern in many parts of the world. Between 2008 and 2015, the pest was detected on multiple islands in the Torres Strait.