The longstanding fungicide’s current approval is set to expire in 2024, with its future renewal being assessed by the Chemical Regulations Division (CRD). The uncertainty around Mancozeb’s availability this year meant some manufacturers were reluctant to risk being left with stocks, thus limiting supply to farmers.

However, UPL has committed to supplying the product in 2023 to ensure growers have uninterrupted access throughout the season. Geoff Hailstone, potato technical expert at UPL, commented:

“We have healthy supplies of straight mancozeb in the form of Manzate 75WG (mancozeb) and formulated with cymoxanil in Nautile DG (cymoxanil + mancozeb).

“It provides good activity on both Alternaria and late blight. Critically, it is cost-effective, persistent and has multi-site activity, making it an ideal tank mix partner.”

Mr Hailstone added Manzate can safeguard the activity of other crop protection products, most of which are single-site fungicides with a higher risk of the crop developing insensitivity or resistance.

In the wake of blight control failures last year, fungicide resistance management is in prime focus for growers this season. The genotype associated with the spread of blight in 2022, EU_43_A1, was first identified in Denmark in 2018 and subsequently accounted for 21% of samples in 2021 and 45% of Danish samples in 2022.

Moreover, almost half of the isolates of EU_43_A1 collected between 2018 and 2022 were on the variety Kuras, which has a published high resistance to foliar and tuber blight, according to the European Cultivated Potato database.

The genotype was also detected in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2022. Concerningly, researchers at the University of Aarhus and James Hutton Institute found the first five isolates, sampled from prime potato regions in Jutland, entirely resistant to mandipropamid, a member of the carboxylic acid amide (CAA) group of fungicides.

Consequently, the EU_43_A1 is the first strain of P. infestans reported to have resistance to a CAA fungicide. The proportion of resistant isolates within the genotype is not yet known, however, it is feared that the majority are affected.

Eric Anderson, senior agronomist at Scottish Agronomy, is concerned that cross-resistance to the entire chemistry group, including dimethomorph, benthiavalicarb and valifenalate, is likely.

“We rely on CAA-containing fungicides for about 50% of our blight programmes in the UK, so this news is very concerning. EU_43_A1 has not yet been discovered in the UK. However, the fact that we haven’t found it doesn’t mean it isn’t here. For this season, we must use precaution when planning our blight fungicide programmes,” he warned.

Mr Anderson believes mixing products from different mode of action groups is essential when building a fungicide programme in order to protect crops and preserve the efficacy of available products for future seasons.

“The alternation between mixes is equally essential to prevent resistance from developing,” he explained. “In this context, mancozeb will be the tank mix partner of choice this season.

“Growers should avoid using products such as Shirlan (fluazinam), Ranman Top (cyazofamid), Revus (mandipropamid) or Carial Flex (cymoxanil + mandipropamid) without the inclusion of another at an effective dose and belonging to an alternative mode of action.”

Alternaria control is another consideration, Mr Anderson added, with several fungicides intended for this purpose being in co-formulation with a CAA-containing product.

“Unless the variety has good resistance to the disease, mancozeb will be useful in suppressing Alternaria. I would advise applying 1,000g a.i/ha of mancozeb alongside a mixture of single-site chemistry,” he said.

New products are due to be launched in 2024 that will add to farmers’ potato blight armoury. In the meantime, mancozeb remains a valuable tool to help control the disease in 2023 and preserve the efficiency of existing products.

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Picture Tim Scrivener

A wet March saw planters unable to travel and seed stocks stuck in sheds while almost 120mm of rain fell, representing 80% more rainfall than is typical for the month, according to Met Office data.

South West and South East England were the worst-affected regions, while growers in the North West and North East were spared some of the rain but battled more frosts and snow.

While planting is now well underway, Corteva says maincrop potatoes are likely to have been drilled later than planned and, where April showers have continued, residual herbicide programmes may not have been applied in a timely manner, if at all.

The bulk of the weed control workload in potatoes is carried out using residual chemistry applied to ridges shortly after planting. Weeds evading the scope of residuals are tackled with a post-emergence spray, typically in May.

Craig Chisholm, Corteva’s field technical manager for potatoes, said: “There are three main reasons why weed control is important in potatoes. The first is protecting the crop from yield-robbing competitive weeds, and the second is ensuring harvest machinery is not hampered or slowed down.

“But perhaps the most important reason to keep weeds in check is to reduce the risk of blight through sheltering leaves or contributing to a more favourable microclimate.”

Craig advises growers who are unable to get their pre-emergence herbicides on to instead use a post-emergence approach as the crop encounters warming, moist conditions.

Titus is a sulfonylurea herbicide containing rimsulfuron for control of broad-leaved weeds in potatoes.

Applied in mixture with metribuzin, it provides the most comprehensive post-emergence weed spectrum.

“Titus is most effective against small, actively-growing weeds, and should be applied before the crop provides a sheltering canopy, which may compromise activity,” he added.

“Titus is safe across all varieties, but should not be applied to seed crops, and users should check that their variety is listed as tolerant of metribuzin before including in the mix.”

The selective herbicide has been a mainstay for potato growers for almost three decades, with a weed spectrum that includes cleavers, chickweed, redshank, mayweed and oilseed rape volunteers.

Titus has also demonstrated excellent activity on some grasses, notably couch.

Craig said: “The qualities of Titus are well known to potato growers and agronomists in an environment where there are relatively few tools to do an important spring job.”

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Stock photo for illustration purposes only.

The funding will support projects developing robotic crop harvesting for horticulture, an autonomous system to change cows’ bedding to improve their health, welfare and productivity, and an environmentally-friendly approach to potato cultivation.

The three winning projects have been awarded grants through the Large R&D Partnership competition, part of the government’s £270 million Farming Innovation Programme, a second round of which is currently open for applications.

The Farming Innovation Programme is part of the government’s commitment to spend around £600 million on grants to provide support for farmers to invest in productivity, animal health and welfare, innovation, research and development over three years. Funding for the programme is provided from the £2.4 billion annual farming budget.

Alongside the ongoing roll-out of the Environmental Land Management schemes, the grants will help deliver long-term sustainable food production and support farmers to halt and reverse the decline of nature as set out in the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said: “It’s important that we fund projects like these – and those still to come in future rounds – as we support farmers to deliver sustainable food production and protect the environment.”

Meanwhile, Katrina Hayter, Interim Executive Director Healthy Living & Agriculture, Innovate UK, commented:

“These projects have all demonstrated not only an innovative solution to a real-life, on-farm problem, but also the value of partnerships and collaboration between different sector experts. For novel technology to truly succeed, it needs the input of the farmers themselves for the day-to-day realities of its use.”

“We’re really pleased that these partnerships have this idea at their core, and we now look forward to working with them as they develop their solutions further and bring the benefits to life.”

Successful projects offer innovative solutions to practical problems

With labour shortages affecting the horticulture sector around the world, automation offers huge opportunities to reduce costs and labour requirements. Led by APS Produce, the Agri-Opencore project has been awarded over £3.8m to accelerate the delivery of robotic crop systems for horticulture.

The funding will help the project create the world’s first open development platform (software and hardware) for agri-robotic crop harvesting.

The open development platform will enable multiple organisations to contribute, allowing cross-sector collaboration and demonstration of technologies on English farms. It is hoped that the project will help accelerate the adoption of robotic picking by two years.

APS Produce head grower Phil Pearson said: “The Agri-Opencore robotics project is an exciting and vital project for the fresh produce industry. It promises to deliver the significant progress required to automate fresh produce harvesting in the UK.

“As this work brings leading technology providers, Dogtooth, Xihelm and Wootzano, with the academic excellence of the University of Lincoln team, we can expect significant progress towards autonomous harvesting,” he added.

Aimed at the development of an autonomous cow cubicle bedding unit, the AG ARC project, led by Garnett Farm Engineering, has been awarded over £2.5m in funding.

Careful cubicle management and keeping the bedding dry and clean is vital to cow comfort, which is a key factor in reducing the risk of mastitis.

The project aims to reduce the need for manual labour by developing an intelligent robotic cubicle bedder to monitor and respond to key sensor data to optimise dispensing of bedding. This will help to boost cow health and welfare, improve farm productivity and reduce costs through efficient use of bedding.

Andrew Garnett, director at AG Products, said: “We look forward to collaborating with the University of Liverpool on this exciting project to further enhance our cattle bedding solutions to farmers, improving cow welfare and productivity.

“Our passion for innovation has seen the recent launch of the AG Duo; the AG ARC will further revolutionise the industry’s approach to cattle bedding.”

The third project to be awarded funding, Potato-LITE, is set to explore optimised systems for potato cultivation. Current systems require the soil to be cultivated to create a deep and uniform seedbed, free from stones and clods, to provide a favourable environment for potato growth.

Whilst reduced tillage technologies have enabled regenerative agriculture in cereal systems, this technology has not been developed for the production of potatoes and other root crops.

Having received funding of £2.83m, Potato-LITE will transform potato tillage through developing new cultivation equipment and systems, delivered through a leading partnership between food manufacturers (PepsiCo and McCain), a machinery manufacturer (Grimme), growers (Strawson Ltd, JRO Griffiths, H Sutton & Son and JM Bubb & Son) and research organisations (Cranfield University, Harper Adams University and CHAP).

To apply for round two of the Large R&D Partnerships competition, visit the government website here.

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Trading as F & TL Stanier, Zak – who grows 200-240ha of potatoes annually alongside his uncle, Gary Stanier, purchased the Terracast GR granular applicator in February 2022, replacing a hybrid machine.

Zak says: “The old applicator comprised four individual hoppers, all with their own metering systems, connected to one main drive shaft that was driven by a land wheel. Although performing acceptably in dry conditions, when used in wet or heavy soils the land wheel would often pick up additional layers of soil, increasing its width which led to over-application of product. There was no auto-shut off system either, which meant that nematicide was either being under or over-applied at the headland as the tractor made each turn.

“As a competitive, family-owned potato business operating on mainly rented land, we have to be very market driven and keep a close eye on all our costs – including investment in any new machinery. However, we also realised that neither the accuracy nor the overall reliability of the farm-built machine were at the level they needed to be. The eventual decision to go with a Terracast GR that linked into the John Deere’s own Isobus control system to deliver a more even spread pattern of nematicide via a powerful air delivery system was really a ‘no-brainer’.

“With no special modifications required, we front-mounted the Terracast GR on the John Deere 6215 with our bed-tiller rear mounted for even-weight distribution. As we only require nematicide on approximately 30% of our fields, the Terracast GR can easily be uncoupled from the John Deere, with our Philip Watkins weight block remaining in place to maintain the correct overall weight balance.

“The Terracast GR is compatible with the John Deere’s own guidance system so there was no requirement for us to utilise the Techneat electronic rate controller. The Isobus functionality also means we can now receive instant application data fed back live to the farm office, detailing when the nematicide was applied, the amount, and the total area applied making application recording effortless.

“The new applicator is easy to calibrate and delivers granular nematicide into the furrows accurately, via a flexible number of fishtail outlets spread evenly across the full width of a 3.6m boom. The fishtails are currently positioned every 300mm providing double overlap and even distribution as we have enough outlets for an eventual move to a larger 5.4m boom.

“Auto-shut off at the headland – a significant problem under our old system – is now all done automatically, with the Terracast GR’s auto-shut off synchronised to the field boundaries already stored in the John Deere’s guidance system that has mapped all our fields. This takes all the guesswork away and the operator is free to concentrate solely on the positioning of the tractor as it makes the turn.

“Despite currently growing all our potatoes under a 2-bed system, the Terracast GR is already set up for our eventual move to a 3-bed system. To complete the set-up, we need only upgrade the machine’s existing 3.6m boom to a 5.4m width boom, adjusting the position of the 12 delivery outlets along the new boom to a 450mm spacing.

“Although the primary reason for investing in the Terracast GR was to improve the level of potato cyst nematodes (PCN) control on a third of our fields, we were fully aware that the machine can also apply starter fertiliser or double as a seeder unit with minimal modifications. Having already successfully completed cover crop trials last year, we now aim to widen the use of the new applicator from autumn 2024 to establish cover crops,” concludes Zak.

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Developed in partnership with Grimme UK, the innovative Pro-Sort will be available for visitors to view at next month’s Fruit Logistica show, taking place on 8-10 February.

The unit efficiently removes clod and foreign debris from potatoes and has the capacity to handle up to 100 tonnes per hour with high levels of accuracy, thanks to its integral Tomra 3A optical sorter. Pro-Sort has been popular with UK growers faced with labour shortages, and Haith sales manager Rob Highfield is confident it will also appeal to European farmers.

“As well as wanting to find cost-effective, reliable and efficient ways to receive, wash and grade their produce they are all starting to talk about having the flexibility to move their handling machinery to where it’s needed,” he said.

“Labour shortages and the cost of labour are significant issues for growers. I think these two factors are behind the increasing interest we’re seeing in our mobile solutions, such as our new mobile water treatment plant and the new PRO-Sort.”

“We are looking forward to showing visitors to Fruit Logistica just how easy it is to transport and set up the PRO-Sort,” Mr Highfield added.

Being a modular unit, the product offers the flexibility of being used in the field, on-farm or integrated into a new or existing grading line. It is also compatible with the Grimme RH receiving hopper and the Grimme Cleanloader, adding to the versatility of the product.

Since 2020, Haith and Grimme UK have been working in partnership to deliver more complete solutions to their customers and make vegetable handling equipment and machinery easier to source.

To find out more about the new Pro-Sort, discover Haith’s full range of vegetable handling solutions and learn about the benefits its partnership with GRIMME UK offers, visit stand A-21 in Hall 4.1 at Fruit Logistica or visit www.haith.co.uk.

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Throughout the potato harvesting season, the Standen team has been working to deliver on-farm demonstrations of various harvester models across the UK. Although harvest is now drawing to an end, there is still time to request a harvester demonstration.

Machines available for demos include the Standen T2XS trailed harvester, Baselier Topper, and AVR Puma 4.0 self-propelled harvester which can be booked via contacting Standen at sales@standen.co.uk.

Meanwhile, the Ferrari Futura demonstrator has also been in action. This fully automated transplanter dramatically reduces the labour required for planting salad, vegetable and tree crops while increasing speed. What’s more, Ferrari’s specialist technology ensures the seedlings remain in an upright position during the transplant phase, alongside maintaining the required distance between seedlings and the planting depth with millimetre accuracy.

Available through the Standen Imports division, there are a range of Ferrari Futura models designed to handle blocks, module trays, and bare roots. To request a demonstration, contact r.parish@standenimports.co.uk.

Launched last year, Standen’s SR200 planter has proven popular and many new machines have been delivered to farms in the UK as spring preparations begin. All machinery across Standen’s land preparation and planting range is available for demonstrations, including the Powavator, BX Bedformer, Uniplus Destoner and SR200 planter.

For more information, contact sales@standen.co.uk or visit https://standen.co.uk/.

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Mr Shailes points out that even the best of irrigation systems or the crops grown in the perfect silt that were planted in great conditions are struggling under the prolonged hot and dry weather we are experiencing.

By early August, most irrigation reservoirs are getting very low and restrictions are being put on some other licenses.

“During the heat wave in July many crops ceased bulking and only put on dry matter, and were just about kept alive. This rapid increase in dry matter means that many crops especially those that are unirrigated or short of water are already in excess of 24% DM and will be highly prone to bruising,” he says.

Mr Shailes believes the best decision for many growers will be to stop the crop even though the yield is only in the low teens per acre.

“To leave the haulm alive under the current conditions will only increase dry matter and yield is unlikely to be significantly improved.

“For some crops even if rain were forecast, their ability to increase yield and tuber size significantly will already be compromised with very poor haulm and will probably cause issues with secondary growth.”

He says growers may have to target lifting and irrigation where still available to those crops that are most sensitive to bruising

“Where water is available, irrigation pre-harvest even though having no real effect on dry matter, can help to keep more soil on the web and cushion the potatoes to reduce bruising.

“Single handling and correct settings of harvesters and elevators will be even more important than normal to reduce the exposure to bruising as much as possible.

“A relatively small unbruised crop should be easier to market than a slightly larger but heavily bruised crop,” he adds.

Its not all doom and gloom, he says. “Some well irrigated crops are still bulking and have good haulm and in an ideal world soil moisture deficit should be maintained at around 30mm until flailing and or burn down to reduce the risk of bruising.

“Normally blight control would need to be continued until all the haulm is dead but with this season with hardly any reports of blight some growers may decide not to treat during the haulm destruction process especially on crop not intended for storage.”

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Correct application timing is essential in maximising efficacy of maleic hydrazide in potatoes and digital tool Crop4Sight can help growers pinpoint the optimum spray window.

Maleic hydrazide, in products like Crown MH, has had a role in potato crops for many years, with the historic key driver control of volunteers that can harbour pests and diseases throughout the rotation.

More recently, it has become the foundation of sprout control for crops destined for store, where it can reduce or eliminate need for further, more treatments.

Uptake into tubers has the greatest influence on efficacy and maximising uptake relies on applying when the crop is actively growing, and environmental conditions are optimum.

Limited leg work

In the past, the process of getting timing right has rested on time-consuming field inspections and keeping a keen eye on weather forecasts.

However, growers now have access to data-driven tools like Crop4Sight to eliminate some of this leg work.

Crop4Sight managing director Paul Coleman says that the precision crop management tool has several functions for potato growers, including a seed module for bespoke seed rate planning.

Its output is based on a seed lot’s chronological condition, contract and marketable yield requirements and harvest dates, rather than a standard recommendation from the seed house.

With the input of information like variety, planting date and first emergence date, it can also provide forecasts for stages of crop emergence, tuber initiation, canopy development, total and marketable yield, and tuber numbers.

Some of these features require further data input from the grower or agronomist, such as an early stem count, which feeds into tuber number forecast, and size and weight graded yield digs, which ground truths yield forecasts and flags any problems within each crop.

Canopy development

Paul says there are two aspects of Crop4Sight which are key when planning its use – canopy development and marketable yield forecasts.

For canopy development, as soon as the system knows the crop emergence date, it will produce a groundcover curve, like the one below for a crop of Maris Piper grown in 2021.

The blue line is the model’s prediction, and it shows when the canopy should be healthy and with a high degree of accuracy when the crop will start to senesce, which is around 24th August.

The grey line shows actual groundcover from visual analysis, either from uploaded mobile phone images or new for 2022, satellite imagery analysed by an algorithm developed in conjunction with remote sensing specialist Assimila.

“We know that having a healthy canopy is important for maximum uptake of the product, and this tells me I need to get the MH by 20th–22nd August at the latest to be confident of a good result,” explains Paul.

Marketable yield

The next reference point is marketable yield. Growers will have to conduct an early yield dig in the crop, measuring tuber numbers, size, and weight, then enter the information into the Crop4Sight dashboard.

The model then predicts when marketable yield will stop increasing to provide an optimum desiccation date.

It is then possible to count back five weeks from that point to give you an earliest application date for MH.

This, aligned with the groundcover forecast and making sure 80% of tubers are above 25mm diameter, gives you the optimum window of 3–5 weeks desiccation which manufacturers recommend.

This allows sprayer operators some breathing space to wait for the right environmental conditions without applying too early, which can have a negative effect on crop yield.

“We’ve found Crop4Sight a really useful tool for forecasting canopy duration and forecasting yield, giving you the best application window for MH uptake without compromising yield,” Paul explains.

Slow drying

Certis Belchim’s technical specialist Henry Welham (left) says extending drying time on the leaf is the primary aim when using Crown MH, the firm’s non-foaming liquid formulation of maleic hydrazide.

This means that high water rates should be used – at or above 400-litre/ha is best – and spraying in hot and dry conditions avoided. Many operators are now favouring its use in the evening when temperatures are falling.

Relative humidity is also important, and this should be above 75% and unlikely to fall for a few hours after spraying. No rain should be forecast, or irrigation scheduled, for at least 24 hours post application (ideally 48 hours).

“Depending on the season, the optimum spray window can be very tight, so maximising efficiency during the spraying operation is a big help, particularly if you have a large area of potatoes to cover,” explains Henry.

Crown MH comes in standard 20-litre containers, but also 600-litre intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).

The IBC system requires a Fastran 850 closed transfer unit from Wisdom Systems to load chemical into the sprayer at a rate of 25-litres/min with very low operator exposure and once empty, returned for recycling free of charge.

“It’s much faster and safer than lifting, ripping and emptying bags into the induction bowl.

“Operators that have used the IBCs have reported enough saved time to get an extra load or two in over the course of a working day when conditions are right, increasing the chances of a favourable result,” says Henry.

MH application checklist

• Treat healthy and actively growing crops
• Apply 3–5 weeks before haulm destruction when 80% of tubers are >25mm
• Spray on a cool day (<25ºC) when RH is >75% and no rain forecast, or irrigation scheduled for at least 24 hours (ideally 48 hours)
• Avoid using mixing partners – only Ranman Top (cyazofamid) is recommended
• Use high water volume – minimum of 400-litres/ha recommended
• Reduce forward speed of sprayer to 8–12kph.

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Speaking at this season’s Syngenta Potato Science Seed & Soil Pathogen webinar, Mr Fordham pointed out that modern planters are capable of operating at far higher speeds, compared to traditional cup planters. “That could compromise the consistent incorporation of spray in the soil target zone around the mother tuber with the original sprayer set-up on the planter, along with potentially resulting in the risk of drift at the higher speed,” he warned.

With the essential role of Amistar for control of both black dot and Rhizoctonia pathogens in the soil, three years of Syngenta trials had investigated new nozzle technology, water volume use and the set-up of nozzle orientation.

Mr Fordham pointed out the original brass AZ in-furrow nozzle – which is no longer available – did have a very small orifice, producing fine droplets susceptible to drift. Some of the alternatives trialled included hollow cone technology to give a wide band of application to cover more of the soil at speed, along with larger orifices less prone to blockage and drift.

Results of the trials have shown the Lechler TR80 had performed consistently well over successive seasons. The set-up recommended was with two nozzles, one at the front and a second at the rear of the planter shoe, to spray the soil as it falls back in to cover the planted tuber.

With the research repeatedly showing application at 100-litres/ha producing the best results for both crop yield and tuber quality, compared to 50-litres/ha, the TR80 was operated with an 015 nozzle in both situations, he reported.

The other combination which showed good promise from one year of trials was a set-up instigated in Germany, using two Lechler FT90 nozzles – set up to deliver 33% of the spray at the front of the shoe, by fitting at 01 sized nozzle, and 66% at the rear on the closing soil, through an 02 nozzle.

“The relatively large nozzle orifice would be unlikely to block. More interestingly, it is a pre-orifice nozzle design, so offers some level of drift reduction and may be a combination to consider, especially with higher speed planters,” he advocated.

Mr Fordham reported that in all the Norfolk trials, undertaken in a field specifically selected for the high risk of soil-borne black dot, the use of Amistar reduced the incidence of severe infection on the harvested tubers. Results were also improved disease control for silver scurf and greater marketable yield from all the Amistar application techniques.

Syngenta potato technical manager, Michael Tait, had warned research had shown that black dot (Coletotrichium coccodes) was proving extremely persistent in soils, along with some indication that the pathogen is involved with the early die back complex that is being increasingly reported in potato crops.

“Microsclerotia of black dot can typically persist in the soil for eight years or more, which means that once established it can usually survive from one potato crop to the next in the rotation,” he said. The pathogen is favoured by warm, wet conditions often associated with changing climate.

“We have seen very good results from Maxim seed tuber treatment, to prevent transfer of seed-borne pathogen onto the daughter tubers. But with this disease now so prevalent in soils, growers and agronomists need to be looking at the combination of both Maxim and Amistar to manage its damaging effects,” he advised.

The combination of seed and soil borne controls was also especially effective in countering rhizoctonia black scurf, Mr Tait suggested. Dutch trials had shown that Amistar in furrow and Maxim seed treatment individually had each effectively halved the calculated rhizoctonia index – a measure assessing both the severity and incidence of infection – from 16 in the untreated to 7.5 or 8 respectively. When the two products were used together, however, the index was further significantly reduced, to just 3.

The full Syngenta Potato Science Seed & Soil Pathogens webinar is available to view here.

For more arable news visit our website.

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NSP working group member and agronomist, Simon Alexander, highlights that, following amendments to the Red Tractor Assurance fresh produce standard in November 2021, this is the first application season when certified growers will be required to provide evidence of a post-application field check for fields treated with granular nematicides.

“Growers must walk fields between 12 and 24 hours after the application of granular nematicides. This involves checking headlands or other areas where equipment is turned on and off, and also the field edge, for signs of wildlife that may have ingested the product and suffered adverse effects,” explains Mr Alexander.

A field monitoring form is available to download from the Red Tractor website. “The form allows farmers to record their field check process, so Red Tractor can provide assurance that growers are taking every precaution necessary when applying granular nematicides,” he adds.

Operators are also reminded that if they are applying nematicides for Red Tractor certified growers, they must have completed an e-learning module on nematicide stewardship.

“The online training, provided via ARTIS, will ensure operators are familiar with the stewardship principles set out by the NSP, to enable the safe and responsible use of granular nematicides,” says Mr Alexander.

He reminds that the wider best practice steps also need to be considered when applying granular nematicides. These include applying and incorporating nematicides within a single machinery pass, ensuring granule flow is shut off before the row end and burying small spillages immediately.

“To achieve an even application, it’s important to apply granular nematicides in a single pass, with a properly calibrated applicator,” he says.

“The machine should shut off the flow with enough room for all granules to have passed through the system before the row end. This will ensure all granules are incorporated into the soil before reaching the headland.”

Small spillages should be buried immediately, while larger spillages should be gathered into the original container and the manufacturer contacted for guidance on safe disposal.

“Regardless of the quantity spilled, PPE should be worn to protect the operator handling it,” Mr Alexander adds.

He explains that on each day the applicator is used, it should be checked to ensure all pipework is correctly fitted, the hopper bungs are in place and hopper lids are secure.

“Machinery must also have been inspected and certified by NSTS in the last two years,” he adds.

For more information on the NSP’s granular nematicide best practice steps visit their website.

For more arable news, visit our website.

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