UK: CHAP launches new digital service – CropMonitor Pro

CHAP – a UK Agri-Tech Centre funded by Innovake UK – announced the launch of its new digital service – CropMonitor Pro, designed to help growers and agronomists predict the likelihood of pest and disease outbreaks on their farm.

CropMonitor Pro extends the DEFRA funded, long-standing regional risk evaluation service (Crop Monitor), 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.

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.

Analytical tools are becoming increasingly popular among growers. Retailers, agrochemical companies and government are all looking to better predict the risk of pest and disease outbreaks to mitigate against supply chain shortages, predict sales and encourage environmental stewardship. For growers, a better understanding of the level of pest and disease risk can ensure pesticides are only applied when required. This will not only offer immediate savings on both chemical applications and operational expenditure but will also reduce the threat of resistance against an increasingly limited arsenal of available crop protection products.

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, and with up to 85% accuracy.

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

CHAP CEO Fraser Black said: “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.”

Fera CEO Dr Andrew Swift said: “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.”