"But if it gets spread on other river systems in North Queensland, that's going to be a whole new ball game."
"You're naive if you think we are all safe, that's for sure, and any flood event increases the threat,"he said.
"Once it gets in the soil, it's there essentially forever so you can't grow susceptible cultivars in that soil anymore,"Professor Dale said.
"Growers have really changed their lifestyle, amazingly, to work with these biosecurity measures, so the farms now have very restricted access,"he said.