CHAP launches CropMonitor Pro

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CHAP (Crop Health and Protection) has launched CropMonitor Pro, a new digital service designed to help growers and agronomists predict the likelihood of pest and disease outbreaks on their farm.

CropMonitor Pro estimates infection risk by analysing the complex relationship between weather, crop growth stage, management practices and disease or pest characteristics. It uses a simple traffic light system to show crop susceptibility and suggests optimum times to spray – and when to avoid spraying – for up to four days ahead with up to 85% accuracy.

The system benefits from almost 20 years of historical winter wheat disease data: models which could be validated against this dataset were shown to have a false negative rate of less than 15%.

CHAP CEO Fraser Black says:

“Developing tools to support the sustainable use of pesticides is critical not only to improve the bottom line of our growers but also to protect our environment and halt the rapid rise of pesticide resistance emerging in the UK. CropMonitor Pro will deliver real financial benefits to growers and agronomists while also protecting the environment.”

CropMonitor Pro extends the DEFRA funded, long-standing regional risk evaluation service (Crop Monitor) which was first launched in 2003 by Fera Science Limited (Fera). CropMonitor Pro is a significant advancement on that service by providing field-level risk prediction for a range of pests and diseases affecting winter wheat, winter oilseed rape and potatoes.

Fera CEO Dr Andrew Swift says:

“After several years of development work, we are excited to launch the CropMonitor Pro service with CHAP. It is our hope that CropMonitor Pro becomes a vital tool for the industry to improve profitability while helping to protect our natural ecosystems.”

The CropMonitor Pro decision support service is a collaboration between CHAP and Fera and has been in development since 2017. It has been funded by IUK as part of the UK Agri-tech Strategy.

The system launched on 14th September for growers and agronomists and will be available directly through www.cropmonitor.co.uk on a subscription basis.

For further information about the project, email Chris Delf 

Crop Health and Protection (CHAP), funded by Innovate UK, is one of four UK Agri-Tech Centres.Find out more about CHAP here

CHAP has recently appointed Dr Peter Quinn, CEO of Genius Foods, to be its new Non-Executive Chairman, following the retirement, earlier this year, of John Chinn.

As Chairman of CHAP, Peter is committed to the vital function of science, technology and collaborative innovation to transform UK agriculture and sustainable food production.

Dr Peter Quinn:

“I am delighted to be appointed to the Board of CHAP as Non-Executive Chairman. There has never been a more critical time to invest in the future of UK agriculture and sustainable food production. CHAP plays a pivotal role creating world class innovations through collaborations between scientists, farmers and industry to transform the productivity of UK agriculture. CHAP is the nexus for new ideas and ingenuity that will deliver agricultural solutions for tomorrow’s world.”

Fera Science Limited is a joint private/public sector venture between Capita plc and Defra. Find out more about Fera here