The detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in wild seabirds in Australia has triggered an industry-wide biosecurity response, with Grain Producers Australia chair Matthew Madden calling on all agricultural operators to review farm access controls, feed and water management, and written biosecurity plans. The warning applies directly to agritourism operations, where managed public access creates documented biosecurity exposure that most conventional farm operations do not face.

Why Agritourism Properties Face Elevated Risk

Agritourism operators run a business model that by design brings non-farm people, vehicles, and footwear onto working properties. This places them in a category that standard farm biosecurity guidance treats as a controlled variable. For agritourism, it is a daily constant.

The risk pathways identified in the Grain Producers Australia statement are directly relevant to properties hosting visitors:

• Weed seeds, soil, and plant material transported on visitor footwear, clothing, and vehicles
• Unauthorised or poorly managed entry into paddocks, cropping areas, or livestock zones
• Wild bird congregation around dams, wetlands, water storage, and grain spills on mixed properties
• Contractor, supplier, and staff movement across properties that also receive public visitors
• Feed and water sources for domestic poultry accessible to wild birds or unsupervised visitors

Properties that combine agritourism with cropping, poultry keeping, or mixed livestock enterprises face compounding exposure across multiple risk categories simultaneously.

Biosecurity Signage and Entry Protocols

The source article makes a point with direct operational implications for agritourism operators: biosecurity signage at farm entrances is a functional management tool, not a courtesy gesture. Signs must include current contact details and must be backed by a documented entry process, including what visitors are required to do before entering, where they are permitted to go, and what hygiene or cleaning measures apply.

For agritourism operators, this means the entry protocol embedded in visitor signage must be consistent with the property’s written biosecurity plan. A sign that says “contact the farm before entering” is only effective if the biosecurity plan specifies what that contact process looks like, who manages it, and what instructions are given in response.

Operators should audit their current signage against the following criteria:

• Contact details are current and monitored during operating hours
• The sign specifies what visitors must do, not merely that they must do something
• Entry requirements differ meaningfully for general visitors, contractors, and service providers
• The instructions on the sign are reflected in the property’s written biosecurity plan

Written Biosecurity Plans: The Operational Baseline

Madden identifies a written biosecurity plan as the most practical starting point for any agricultural operator. For agritourism businesses, this document carries additional weight because it governs a much larger and more variable pool of people entering the property.

A plan suited to an agritourism operation should address:

• Visitor access zones and the boundaries of those zones, mapped to actual property layout
• Separate protocols for booked visitors, walk-in visitors, contractors, and delivery vehicles
• Poultry and livestock separation from public access areas, with physical controls documented
• Grain storage, feed, and water management in areas where wild birds or visitors could create contamination risk
• Staff and contractor obligations, including who is responsible for enforcing entry conditions
• Reporting lines for unusual animal illness or death, including the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline at 1800 675 888

The Grains Farm Biosecurity Program provides resources to support plan development, available at grainsbiosecurity.com.au. While the program is oriented toward grain producers, the risk identification frameworks and planning templates are applicable to mixed or diversified rural enterprises.

Reporting Obligations and H5N1 Indicators

Operators with on-property waterways, dams, or wetlands should treat the current alert period as a heightened surveillance window. Wild bird deaths or unusual illness presentations, particularly among waterbirds, seabirds, shorebirds, and birds of prey, should be reported immediately to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.

Sick or dead birds must not be handled. People, livestock, and working dogs should be kept away from the site. If a visitor discovers a sick or dead bird on the property before staff are aware, operators need a clear protocol for how that is escalated and managed, including who makes the report and what information is recorded.

This scenario is not hypothetical. Agritourism visitors walk through paddocks, along waterways, and into areas of the property that working farm staff may not check daily. A clear visitor briefing on what to report and who to contact is both a biosecurity control and a duty-of-care measure.

What This Means for WA Operators

Western Australian agritourism operators are already operating within a robust biosecurity framework shaped by decades of managing fire, drought, biosecurity incursions, and high-consequence animal disease threats. Many properties will have existing plans that address standard visitor access. The H5N1 alert requires a targeted review of those plans rather than a rebuild from scratch.

The specific actions warranted at this time are:

• Review whether the property’s biosecurity plan explicitly addresses wild bird contact with poultry, feed, and water, and whether the current H5N1 threat requires any additional controls
• Confirm that visitor entry protocols and signage are current, visible, and enforceable before visitor season activity peaks
• Brief staff and contractors on H5N1 indicators and the reporting process via 1800 675 888
• If the property includes domestic poultry as part of the agritourism experience (farm tours, egg collection activities, and similar), assess physical separation from wild bird access and document the controls in place

WA’s geographic isolation provides a degree of natural buffer, but the detection of H5N1 in Australian wild seabirds removes the assumption that the risk is distant. Properties in the south-west that attract migratory or resident waterbirds, or that operate farm-stay or nature-based experiences near wetlands, should treat this as an active risk management period rather than a monitoring situation.