Syngenta has launched a dedicated Specialist Crops Community as part of the company’s website, designed to provide news and information specifically for vegetable, salad and potato growers, along with an interactive on-line forum.
The dedicated area of the website means growers can quickly and easily find relevant information, reports Edwina Wood of Syngenta (above). She believes the forum creates an easy-to-use platform to highlight current issues, and find out how other growers have dealt with the problems. "Growers inevitably raise questions about the agronomy of their crops; the forum provides the ideal format to quickly get practical answers from the experiences of others.
"In many instances other growers will have raised a similar question, and identified their own solutions. The Specialist Crops Community will help to share expertise across the industry," added Miss Wood. "Syngenta technical advisors and independent agronomists will also be looking at the forum entries and be able to post helpful answers and suggestions to topical questions, which can be viewed and used by all."
Miss Wood highlights it’s not limited to crop agronomy, but can address business issues or opportunities for growers to work together on a supply contract or share a new piece of specialist equipment, for example.
She stressed the new web-based community does not replace the highly respected Syngenta Technical Enquiries service, which answers specific individual questions by email or telephone. "We are seeking to increase the level of support we provide and to collectively help growers communicate the best practice from their own experiences."
Growers can join the Specialist Crops Community to start new threads and topics within the forums, post responses to existing topics or upload pictures where they are seeking assistance. The easy to use format will be familiar to anyone using forums on news or social networking websites.
Vegetable and potato growers and agronomists can register free to join the Specialist Crops Community at www.syngenta-crop.co.uk and take advantage of other Syngenta on-line services, including free five-day weather forecasts, agronomy advice and information, along with innovative pest and disease warning services, including BlightCAST and Brassica Alert.
