Improving Crop Health & Business Resilience (Lanark) – event summary

It is becoming increasingly challenging for cereal growers faced with unpredictable weather, loss of chemistry and new and increasing disease threats. This has been shown this year with the explosion in BYDV in spring barley as well as the mutations found in Ramularia fungus showing shifts in the efficacy of SDHI and Triazole chemistry. The importance of Integrated Pest Management, taking a whole farm approach to managing pests and diseases rather than relying solely on chemicals was highlighted throughout the day.

Use of varietial resistance, monitoring thresholds and using forecasting to assess the disease risk and tailoring chemical controls should all be considered. This integrated approach can allow farmers to make to best use of control methods whilst reducing reliance on use of pesticides.