Farming News - myFIELD App upgrades BlightCast and the Quantis Heat Stress Forecast alerts

myFIELD App upgrades BlightCast and the Quantis Heat Stress Forecast alerts

The new Syngenta myFIELD app now provides growers with instant access to crop specific weather information and agronomy decision support tools in a single easy to use digital platform that can be tailored to each individual field.

myFIELD includes major developments to Syngenta’s highly popular BlightCast for potato growers and the Quantis Heat Stress Alert forecasting tool, designed to better time biostimulant applications in potatoes, sugar beet and maize crops.

Growers and agronomists can download and customise the free myFIELD for android and iOS phone, reported the system’s developer, Ed Flint.

“Simply downloading and registering MyFIELD will open access to detailed local weather information and warning risks selected to aid agronomy decisions,” he advocated. “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.”

Potato growers and agronomists, for example, can receive the latest BlightCast information that gives up to 14 days warning of conditions conducive to disease infection and development. The system helps growers to fine-tune in season blight protection strategies 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; 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 alerts, to aid growers’ decision making,” added Ed.

The Quantis Heat Stress Alert tool notifies when heat events are forecast to trigger set parameters when crops suffer – in time to take action with preventative applications. Quantis application prior to heat events in potatoes, sugar beet and maize has consistently proven to protect crops from adverse effects and provide long-lasting resilience to recover faster  

In addition to the live on-screen updates, growers and agronomists can elect to receive email alerts of impending blight risk or impending heat event periods.

“Both BlightCast and Quantis Heat Stress Alert should be used in conjunction with Syngenta Spray Assist, to ensure optimum timing and application techniques to the prevailing weather conditions and assure crops are protected,” advised Ed.

Further Syngenta digital agronomy decision support tools for all crops will be added into the myFIELD App later this season and in future years. Growers and agronomists only need complete their registration details and field plans once, to be available for a tailored agronomy plan in future seasons.