Crops

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development continues to support the growth and international competitiveness of all crop industries in Western Australia.

With a 2400 kilometre span from its tropical north to its temperate south, WA supports a broad range of cropping industries from rain-fed winter cereals through to irrigated horticultural crops.

In the 2012/13 year the WA cropping industries exported a total of $3.9 billion which comprised: $3.1 billion of cereals, $859 million of pulses, pastures and oilseeds, $142 million of horticultural crops. The major contributors to these exports were wheat ($2.7 billion), canola ($756 million), barley ($377 million), lupins ($42 million), carrots at $48 million, oats ($12 million), and strawberries at $5.5 million.

Articles

Diagnosing onion maggot in lupins and peas

19 January 2015

Onion maggot (Delia platura, incorrectly known as bean root maggot fly) rarely affects young lupin and pea crops sown into green decomposing organic matter.
Diagnosing thrips in lupins

19 January 2015

Onion thrips (Thrips tabaci) and plague thrips (Thrips imagines) are 2mm long, cigar shaped and range in colour from yellow-orange to dark grey.
Pulse crops - insect threshold levels

9 April 2014
Diagnosing pea weevil damage

23 April 2015

The pea weevil (Bruchus pisorum) is in fact a beetle not a weevil and should really be called the pea beetle. It is one of the most damaging pests of field peas.
Diagnosing aphid damage in field peas

23 April 2015

Small soft-bodied winged or wingless insects that damage field peas grown in Western Australia through transmission of viruses rather than direct feeding damage. Main species are pea aphid (A
Diagnosing weevils in lupins and field peas

19 January 2015

Weevils are beetles with long snouts that can rarely damage lupins in high rainfall areas. Species include:
Diagnosing vegetable beetle damage

17 February 2014

A widespread beetle is mainly a pest of summer crops, but has seriously damaged young canola in southern districts, especially when there has been a warm start to the growing season.
Diagnosing rutherglen bug

4 December 2013

Sap-sucking insects that can damage crops and pastures that emerge in warm conditions. Often associated with mintweed after summer rain. Adults can contaminate canola at harvest.
Diagnosing African black beetle

4 December 2013

A pest of cereals and perennial grasses, adult and larval African black beetles can cause economic damage to wheat and barley crops during autumn and winter on the south coast of Western Australia
Monitoring insects and other crop pests

24 March 2014

Correct identification of insect pests is necessary in order to avoid economic damage being sustained and retain beneficial insects.