Crop protection

Potato growers are being urged to prepare now for changes in the potato seed treatment line-up this spring, as product choices and application options have narrowed.

With some winter crops only just in the ground, and margins particularly tight, fungicide programmes will need careful consideration this season.

Sodden soils have severely hampered early weed control opportunities this season, and a wet and mild winter, which is typically followed by higher spring grass-weed populations, could make the challenge even greater.

The co-operative structure was ideally suited to help farmers make the most of the data they collect, according to speakers at the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS) annual conference (Thursday Jan 30). 

Potato production in the north east and north west of England has fallen by an estimated 36,100 tonnes on the previous season, to 205,200t.

With increasing pressure to retain the performance of current actives, and a tight year expected financially, disease control this season requires a rethink.

Scottish seed potato growers have come out strongly in defence of their production standards amid accusations of unacceptable viral infection in 2019 crops.

Critics of the industry often claim today’s pesticides are more toxic and damaging to soil than ever – but nothing could be further from the truth, says Adam Speed, head of communications at the Crop Protection Association.

With the backdrop of resistance issues and withdrawal of chlorothalonil (CTL), growers attending the AHDB/SRUC Agronomy 2020 meeting in Inverurie heard how to maximise disease control this season. Jo Learmonth reports.

Using RNA interference (RNAi), a biological process which disrupts the production of an organism’s proteins, Syngenta is looking at a biocontrol method which kills target species but has no impact on any other organism.