The Syngenta BlightCast system will give growers and agronomists a five-day advance warning of localised blight risks. It has been developed to enable risk-based selection of appropriate fungicides and ensure application at the right time to prevent infection.
Syngenta’s potato manager, Andrew Curtis, said: "In the past growers have relied on weather records indicating Smith Periods when blight risk had already occurred. That was after the event, and when it was too late to make preventative applications. Now we have the technology and capability to forecast when conditions conducive to blight are likely to occur, and give growers the chance to take positive action to minimise the risk of infection."