It’s the advice that every farmer has been waiting to hear a unique way to end the invasive red fire ant problem and from a home-grown solution
Tackling and defeating Invasive red fire ants has just become so much easier with the release of a professional-grade solution developed by a family-owned Aussie company.
The main benefit is that It’s faster, more effective and less damaging to soils than previous solutions offered.
This all-Australian solution is just in time to counter infestations of highly destructive red imported fire ants and the fact it has been developed enables it to be offered as a cost-effective solution for farmers.
Watch for the product in your local rural store, it is called ANTagonistPRO and this polymer-enhanced insecticide spray from Sundew Professional Solutions has been developed to respond to the problem in areas where the ants are already present, including Queensland, where the ants arrived in 2001, and in Northern NSW, where the ants have spread since.
ANTagonistPRO is a rapid response large area treatment, as well as a biosecurity transport protection treatment, to stop ant infestations and invasions.
It has been estimated Fire ants could cost our local economy billions of dollars a year, if left unchecked, according to the National Fire Ant Eradication program.
“Fire ants have the potential to surpass the combined damage done each year by our worst pests: feral cats, wild dogs, foxes, camels, rabbits and cane toads,” outlines an RIFA program spokesperson. The invasive pest is capable of forming colonies in 99% of mainland Australia and most of Tasmania if left unchecked.
Sundew CEO David Priddy explains, “Prevention and treatment are especially important at this time of the year, as autumn approaches, when the highly invasive and mobile ants become more active while the soil is warm, and the days are milder.
“These aggressive ants are the ultimate hitchhiker – they will move around on vehicles and even floodwaters, to infest new areas, Sundew CEO David Priddy adds.
His company has spent 10 years developing, testing, and refining ANTagonist PRO as Australia’s only approved spray treatment that can be applied rapidly over large surface areas by tractors, Utes, quad bikes, and other farm vehicles equipped with boom sprays.
“Such spray applications – as opposed to slower and more expensive baiting or spearing and injecting of ant nests – mean large areas can be treated extremely quickly, at a fraction of the cost of other methods, with 100% eradication of Red Imported Fire Ants in treated areas.” Sundew CEO David Priddy continues.
“Sundew has conducted extensive research and product development on the ground in Australia. Several options currently being used locally rely on data from overseas, where the environmental conditions are vastly different to Australia. Sundew has invested heavily in local development work so that relevant local data is acquired.
“As Australians, we don’t want that happening here and we can help prevent it,” says David, who formerly worked within one of the world’s largest multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies before forming his own Australian-owned family company to provide solutions suited to local conditions.
“ANTagonistPRO – which is complemented by Sundew’s SAS PRO rapid response direct nest treatment to kill individual nests – is weatherproof and will not wash away once dry and doesn’t need to be reapplied. It will last up to six months on treated surfaces.
“In addition, ANTagonistPRO is the only RIFA-approved concentrate product for applying to vehicles, earthmoving equipment, recreational vehicles, shipping containers, contractor and transport vehicles, as well as agricultural equipment, reducing the risk that RIFA can be moved from property to property.
“This treatment can be applied to large areas to massively reduce time, costs, and physical effort required compared with the slower baiting and spearing methods originally approved by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, DAF.
“We believe this method is a big step forward in countering what may well become a national issue if left unchecked. We have already got the runs on the board from working with professional pest controllers. We believe the message needs to be heard more widely and sooner rather than later,” Sundew CEO David Priddy concluded.
