MyField app makes agronomy easier

Better blight forecasts are now readily available for potato growers thanks to the new Syngenta MyField app.

The app provides growers with instant access to weather information and agronomy decision support tools in a single easy-to-use digital platform tailored to each field.

How it works

It includes Syngenta’s BlightCast facility for potato growers, which works alongside the Quantis Heat Stress Alert tool – helping farmers and agronomists optimise the timing of biostimulant applications in potatoes, sugar beet and maize crops.

Growers and agronomists with Android or Apple smartphones can download and register the app for free. Doing so opens access to detailed local weather information and warning risks linked to aid agronomy decisions.

“By adding in individual fields or cropping blocks, using the integrated Google maps tool, all the information received will be tailored precisely to the specific location and crops,” says system developer Ed Flint.

Potato growers and agronomists can receive the latest BlightCast information with up to 14 days warning of conditions that are conducive to disease infection and development – helping to fine-tune in-season blight protection to specific pressures.

New for the 2023 season, the BlightCast App now enables users to personalise the parameters that trigger a near miss threshold, to tailor the system’s sensitivity to specific situations and their own risk requirements.

Traffic light system

The full Hutton period warning remains fixed at nationally recognised humidity and temperature conditions. “Risks are clearly defined with an easy to interpret green, amber or red alert to aid decision-making,” says Mr Flint.

A heat stress alert tool notifies growers when heat events are forecast to damage crops – in time to take preventative action. Quantis application prior to heat events in potatoes, sugar beet and maize can protect crops, adds Mr Flint.

As well as live on-screen updates, growers and agronomists can receive email alerts of impending blight risk or impending heat event periods. Growers should use the alerts in conjunction with Syngenta Spray Assist to optimise application timings.