Two powerful online blight decision tools combined last week to give potato growers free access to both weather-based warnings and actual local outbreaks as they happen.
The British Potato Council’s (BPC) Fight Against Blight (FAB) service and Blightwatch, which are run by ADAS, the Met Office and 101 Smart, now operate concurrently.
BPC agronomist Mark Prentice said: “It streamlines the work that growers do to register and will deliver to those who sign up the full picture on any blight-related developments in their area in a single e-mail or mobile text message.”
Growers can sign up to a daily alert for up to ten UK postcodes, allowing them to tailor blight fungicide programmes to actual blight risk, according to the BPC. This summarises if a local blight outbreak has occurred or when humidity and temperature conditions that favour the spread of blight spores - known as a Smith Period - has been triggered.
Ian Barrie at the Met Office added: “It was the logical step to offer a combined service once the BPC became the main sponsor of Blightwatch, which is also supported by several key industry players. This could not have been achieved without the full co-operation of our industry partners ADAS and 101 Smart Ltd.”
FAB received 17,000 hits in 2006 from growers looking for information on actual blight outbreaks reported by a team of 350 blight scouts.
Prentice said: “We’ve tailored this combined offering following industry feedback. Growers wanted the number of messages they received to be streamlined. This gives you one summary message if an alert is triggered, but if all is well, you’re left alone.
“Early warning is a crucial part of keeping this devastating disease under control and reducing the annual £20m fungicide bill growers pay,” he added.
Maps on the BPC website - www.potato.org.uk/blight - provide more information on disease outbreaks.
Users can register to benefit from both services at www.potato.org.uk/blight or www.blightwatch.co.uk.
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