This project aimed to deliver a series of podcasts to inform growers and industry on the various ways FAW was having an impact and being managed in key locations internationally and locally in Australia. It also sought to pool relevant FAW information into one location.

Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda is a noctuid moth, native to the Americas. It was first reported in Australia in February 2020 and quickly established across parts of Northern Australia’s tropical and sub-tropical regions, including North Queensland, Northern Territory, and northern parts of Western Australia. Eradication has been determined to be unfeasible and it is now classified as an established pest in these areas.Given COVID-19 restrictions this year, PHA, like most national organisations, had to change the ways in which it engaged with growers, researchers and biosecurity staff.Early project discussions and planning had the project delivering a series of regional face to face forums across northern Australia, from the Burdekin , Katherine and Kununurra. While there is nothing better than standing in the paddock or at a field day and engaging growers on the challenges they face, the reality of COVID meant we weren’t able to do that.The project quickly changed tactics in light of the evolving pandemic and selected podcast as the primary delivery pathway for the information that was to be curated. This was the first attempt by PBRI and PHA to develop podcasts as the way of delivering information to industry.

The podcast series featured interviews with growers and agronomists on their first-hand experience in managing new and emerging pests, leading Australian researchers on their latest findings and observations and international experts who share their experiences and learnings. Each episode was around 30 minutes in duration (something similar to “conversations’ on the ABC, and listeners can listen in any order they want.

CRDC ID: PHA2003For Public ReleaseJuly 2020 template6 of 16 14 people were interviewed on their experiences when dealing with Fall Armyworm, the challenges they faced and any lesson that we should heed.The podcasts were hosted on the PBRI website www.pbri.com.au/pbri-podcasts and were also made available to listeners to access directly through their favourite podcast app (ie Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google56 podcasts).Throughout the series, podcast host Chris Brown delved into the biology and behaviour of fall armyworm and explored how we could best prepare ourselves to minimise its impact.

The project produced a series of 9 podcastsfrom 14 interviews on the experiences of dealing with Fall Armyworm, the challenges faced and lessons that Australia could learn from.Details of each podcast are provided in the Technical report in Part 3.