Clarity of focus coupled with modest, but realistic expectations explain the first-year success of the Potato Partnership, says James Wrinch, director of East Suffolk Produce and a TPP founding partner.
In agriculture just as in other areas of business, trials are essential to advancing new ways of working that deliver progress. For the founding partners of the Potato Partnership (TPP) it was the recognition that without trials, growers were unlikely to find the answers to some of the most pressing disease and pest threats facing the industry, according to an article published by Bayer Crop Science in the UK.
“Part of our success owes much to the clarity of purpose that brought us together. We have been clear about our objectives, but just as importantly, we know what we are not about. Our focus is on agronomic trials, not crop marketing or lobbying government,” Mr Wrinch says.
In practice, the trials have focussed on finding new ways to use the products and methods already in use to promote better results with issues such as PCN, wireworm and virus and improve certain aspects of nutrition.
It’s been a positive first year, with the TPP claiming to have achieved much of what it set out to do. “It’s not been without its challenges. We are indebted to the host farms and the trials partners for their contributions, but it has been a productive start,” Mr Wrinch says.
The challenge is to build on this performance, but to add weight to what has been achieved, the group needs more partners.
Source: Bayer Crop Science. Read the full article here
Photo: Credit Bayer Crop Science
