Potato Partners Innovation Site Offers Great Insights
Potatoes
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The Syngenta New Zealand team has wrapped up the third season of running the Potato Partners Innovation Site in Pukekohe to showcase new and existing Syngenta products.

Paul Hassan, Technical Services Lead says, “2022-23 was the third season with the Potato Partners innovation site where the multi-trial format enables us to highlight the features and benefits of new and already-registered potato products all at the same site. This allows us to share important findings on these products with growers and industry colleagues more efficiently and creates a lot of discussion with those who visit.”

Andrew McIntosh, Territory Sales Manager (TSM), was involved with the site for the first time and was impressed with the opportunity to show how various products perform versus new and existing options in the field. “The site’s crop management programmes are designed to put the products under a good amount of pressure so there’s plenty for people to see and discuss on-site.”

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Left to right: Paul Hassan, Technical Services Lead with Andrew McIntosh, TSM at the Potato Partners Innovation Site

Andrew describes the three trials run during the 2022-23 season:

  •  BOXER GOLD® herbicide was showcased alone and with various mixing partners. There was a good level of weed pressure in the untreated part of the site. When compared to the BOXER GOLD® treated areas, we could see the strong level of control achieved. We were also able to observe the performance of BOXER GOLD® in various combinations on bare earth and with a crop, where weed control was further enhanced by crop shading.
  • The second trial showcased MIRAVIS® and SCORE® EC fungicides, both registered for use on early blight.  Earlier in the year we published updated Early Blight Resistance Management Guidelines In Potatoes to help preserve these products and our aim was to show the products used as per these guidelines. Early blight pressure was extremely high, so it was a great test. There was certainly a benefit in using SCORE® EC up-front to clean up any latent infection in the crop before starting use of MIRAVIS®.
  • The third trial looked at a new potato tuber treatment being developed for seedborne diseases. AMISTAR® fungicide was also applied as an in-furrow treatment. When compared to the untreated area, this treatment protected the crop against Rhizoctonia and silver scurf through crop emergence to improve overall marketable yield at harvest.
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The Syngenta team showing a grower through the Potato Partners site.

At the conclusion of this project, Syngenta would like to extend thanks to the Kalyx NZ team for conducting the trials at the site. This joint effort has enabled further insight into disease and pest control in the potato market.