Beyond imidacloprid – Ensuring effective and sustainable canegrub control for the future

Canegrubs are one of the most economically significant priorities for the Australian sugarcane industry. Yield losses can range from 10-20% in moderate infestations to more than 30-40% in severe cases, equating to losses of approximately 30 tonnes of cane per hectare.

Neonicotinoids, and specifically imidacloprid and clothianidin, are the only actives currently recommended for the control of canegrubs in sugarcane and these actives are under review by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). There is a high likelihood that neonicotinoids will be either withdrawn completely or have restricted usage by the end of 2028-2029.

SRA has recently completed a project (2020/004), in which 23 products were screened in the laboratory to evaluate their potential efficacy against Greyback canegrub (the most geographically widespread canegrub affecting sugarcane). That projects’ finding identified up to 10 products that now require urgent field evaluation. Field evaluation is required by the APVMA as part of the requirements to support registration of new products or label change where a product may already be registered for other pest control use in sugarcane.

This project is designed to evaluate in the field the efficacy of products, and their soil persistence and soil mobility properties to ensure that any product recommendations are environmentally sustainable.

Without extensive field evaluation there will be no alternatives to neonicotinoids available to the industry once the APVMA delivers its recommendations.

This project seeks to identify sustainably effective alternatives to neonicotinoid insecticides to control canegrubs enabling their commercially availability for industry from 2029-30. This will be done by:
• Evaluation, through a single laboratory trial and multiple field trials, of 10 alternatives to two industry standard neonicotinoids – comparing their efficacy towards canegrubs in four different cane-growing regions.
• Testing two types of insecticide under trial conditions (i) established insecticides (which are widely used in multiple crops) and (ii) next generation insecticides with novel modes of action. Comparison of selected environmental properties of alternatives, including soil persistence and water mobility, will be conducted to ensure the products meet environmental standards. .
• Examine the potential for current and future insecticide resistance in canegrub populations in some regions where growers have reported poor product efficacy.
• Deliver comprehensive datasets to collaborating agrochemical companies to support product registration requirements of the APVMA.