Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW MARCH/APRIL 2021 47 AHDB ON THE SPOT threat from pests, weeds and diseases is an ongoing challenge for farmers and growers. Building resilience against weeds, pests and diseases is critical to successful crop production, as is the challenge of managing resistance to pesticides. Especially as our toolbox for control changes and the need to get more out of the di erent control options, for example by getting the best use from biofumigation for control PCN. Potato growers have been using IPM for many years and as we continue to lose chemical tools from our crop protection toolbox, they will need to take further steps, such as taking greater control of variety selection. is has traditionally been an area where customers have had a big say – conversation and exibility are needed now more than ever. At AHDB we are increasingly looking at varietal resistance to pests and diseases, with trial results on blight and PCN available now. Using an IPM strategy gives us the best opportunity to maximise crop resilience, reduce resistance risk and maximise the e cacy of pesticides and biopesticides through more targeted use, when combined with other cultural, genetic, and biological approaches. How is AHDB developing its approach to IPM? AHDB has an important role in providing the science and data that underpins research and trials across the industry. A good example is tracking the genotypes of diseases like blight – this understanding of disease and pest populations is fundamental to the work we and others do that leads to good IPM practices. Further, IPM principles have been an integral part of AHDB levy provision in Potatoes for many years – if you’re not familiar with our monitoring tools such as Fight Against Blight and the Aphid Trap network – the chances are your agronomist will be. But now we want to make a step-change in delivering this provision to levy payers and the wider industry. As a rst-step we have developed a brand- new tool to help farmers review the varieties they use in order to reduce their reliance on chemistry. e Potato Variety Comparison Tool is essentially a way for users to navigate the potato variety database to allow easier comparison of di erent variety resistance scores. Using the tool growers can use lters by end market (e.g. supermarket or processing) and set thresholds for resistance scores needed. We think it is an exciting rst step to letting growers see what their options are for disease and pest resistant varieties, and it also give us a useable home for the data and knowledge we generate from trial work in this area. If you would like to give it a try, please go to our IPM Hub at ahdb.org.uk/ipm. We recognise that the crop protection landscape is more complex than ever. We need to deliver information to you in a way that brings together the knowledge base on the elements of a good IPM strategy, providing that knowledge in one location, so that you can quickly nd up-to-date information on topical issues that relate to crop health and IPM. “Using an IPM strategy gives us the best opportunity to maximise crop resilience, reduce resistance risk and maximise the e cacy of pesticides and biopesticides through more targeted use, when combined with other cultural, genetic, and biological approaches.” Good management of any pest begins with prevention. Building resilience against disease is critical to successful crop production.