Jacqui Mitchell joins Citrus Australia

Citrus Australia has appointed Jacqui Mitchell as its new Citrus Urban Biosecurity Coordinator.

Mitchell will work alongside Citrus Australia’s Biosecurity Manager, Jessica Lye, to promote the importance of a robust biosecurity system and improve industry preparedness in the event of an incursion.

Her key responsibility will be engaging with urban communities in high-density areas to encourage the monitoring of pests and diseases such as Huanglongbing (HLB) and Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) through CitrusWatch’s Early Detector Network.

“The CitrusWatch program aims to ensure that the Australian citrus industry is better equipped to minimise the entry and spread of high-priority pests through surveillance, research, training and education,” Mitchell said.

“Through the Early Detector Network we distribute trapping kits to urban communities to help monitor pests and diseases in high traffic areas, which are likely to be the pathway of entry for these threats.”

Mitchell brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. She holds a Bachelor of Science, a Cert IV in Training and Assessment and a Cert III in Horticulture, along with qualifications in Retail Nursery, Rural Operations and Conservation and Ecosystem Management.

She spent the last two years as a TAFE lecturer at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

“A career highlight would be the several weeks I spent in Kakadu over the wet season, doing horticulture and conservation training with some of the local people,” Mitchell said.

“We had a grand adventure collecting and propagating local species, learning how to care for them.”

Mitchell has relocated from Darwin to Mildura with her cheeky blue heeler named Poppy, trading crocodiles, waterfalls and termite mounds for desert plains, the Murray-Darling and citrus orchards.

“I love to garden and I love sharing knowledge, so community engagement for something as important as biosecurity brings together many things that I am passionate about,” Mitchell said.

“The key to a great garden is a healthy garden and if we have healthy gardens through good biosecurity practices we can keep our growers and citrus industry safe.”

A self-confessed “foodie and a craft hoarder,” Mitchell is happy to have settled in the Murray Valley region and looks forward to learning more about how the Australian citrus industry operates.

“When you live in a regional area, you get to see and experience things you don’t hear about on tourism ads or Instagram,” she said.

“I drove from Darwin to get here and found a lot of cool things along the way that I wouldn’t know about if I had flown down.

“I’m really looking forward to exploring the tri-state area.”