Potato Review

www. tongengineering .com e: sales@tongengineering.com t: +44 (0)1790 752771 > Gentle Handling > Advanced Design > Intelligent Control INNOVATIVE DESIGN FROM FARM TO PACK TURNKEY PROCESSING SOLUTIONS OPTICAL SORTING IN-FIELD & ON-FARM UNRIVALLEDCLEANING&GRADING ADVANCED BOX HANDLING WASHING & POLISHING THE COMPLETE SOLUTION Designed with you in mind AHDB ON THE SPOT Don Pendergrast is crop scientist with research, commercial and policy experience, who worked at NIAB for over a decade managing variety and commercial eld trials. Don joined AHDB in late 2020 as head of IPM, having most recently focused on crop protection at the NFU, and for the last six years in commercial research developing plant protection products. I NTEGRATED Pest Management (IPM) is a co-ordinated strategy to prevent, detect and control crop pests, weeds, and diseases to optimise yield and reduce environmental impacts. IPM is site-speci c and will look di erent in each situation. Still, we can deploy a step-by-step IPM strategy to prevent, detect and control each threat. Prevent Good management of any pest, weed or disease begins with prevention, starting before the crop is planted or the season begins. e rst step in prevention is assessing the risk, based on a knowledge of its likely occurrence. With this risk assessment, we can use improved hygiene and biosecurity measures, as well as cultural and genetic approaches to reduce the risk/ incidence of a pest, weed or disease outbreak. ‘A STEP BY STEP STRATEGY’ Don Pendergrast explains AHDB’s prevent, detect and control approach to IPM. Detect Once the cropping season is underway, monitoring is critical and alongside crop walking, the use of smart tools for sensing and predicting pest presence and abundance can improve responsiveness to an emerging threat. With this knowledge, an informed decision can be made about the need to control a pest, weed or disease occurrence. Control When control is necessary, an integrated toolbox of control options both chemical and non-chemical can be deployed to manage a pest, weed or disease epidemic. What does this mean for potato growers? e need to protect crops and manage the Growers are urged to try to get more out of di erent control options such as biofumigation for control PCN.