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Cereal growers who are not visiting variety plots in person ahead of this autumn’s planting decisions can experience a high-resolution alternative with a new, 360-degree virtual tour of its wheat and barley varieties, being launched by Syngenta.

Available on the Syngenta UK website at https://www.syngenta.co.uk/varieties-tour, the immersive experience uses 360-degree camera technology to allow users to browse the wheat and barley variety plots exhibited on the Syngenta stand at this year’s Cereals Event.

Users can navigate to individual variety plots from a 360-degree panoramic view of the stand by clicking on ‘hotspots’ in front of each plot, or by clicking directly to the variety via a conventional drop-down menu.

From here, users can ‘walk’ into the plot for a closer, high-resolution inspection of the variety, as well as clicking into summary videos and information sheets that explain each variety’s key features. These include information such as the variety’s yield and quality performance, its suitability to different drilling dates and soil types, its disease resistance and its maturity.

“Choosing the correct variety lays the foundation for the rest of the cropping year,” says Syngenta marketing and communications specialist for seeds and seedcare, Kimberley Baker, “and inspecting varieties in plots at various events and open days over the summer is often a key part of the variety decision-making process.

“With this in mind, we wanted to provide growers and agronomists with an interactive experience that is as close as possible to visiting variety plots, even though they aren’t doing this in person.”

A total of 20 Syngenta varieties are featured in the 360-degree online tour. These comprise: four winter wheats, including the newest Syngenta feed wheat, SY Insitor; seven hybrid barleys, including recently-launched SY Thunderbolt; three winter malting barleys; and six spring barleys. The latter include the up-and-coming spring malting options, SY Tungsten and SY Splendor.