Syngenta Crop Protection yesterday launched its Syntinel RustTracker system, an early-warning Web-based system that provides growers with tools to obtain information regarding outbreaks of Asian soybean rust and assess their potential for risk associated with the disease.
The Syntinel RustTracker uses Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping technology in combination with information from Syngenta’s Syntinel spore traps, data collected from weather forecasts, and USDA’s sentinel plots, when they become available.
RustTracker, available on http://www.soybeanrust.com, will help growers assess their potential for risk associated with rust.
“With the possibility of soybean rust outbreaks looming on the horizon, growers must have detailed forecasting information if they are to be successful managers rather than victims of the disease,” said Valdemar Fischer, President of Syngenta Crop Protection, North America.
Syngenta developed an early-warning system for tracking soybean rust in Brazil in 2003, creating a rust management tool that became the industry blueprint.
The forecasting system also helped Brazil go from a nation that suffered more than US$ 500 million worth of damage in 2002, when the disease first arrived, to producing a record crop this season.
For the U.S., Syngenta has enlisted top private resources such as meteorologists at Accuweather.com that supply state-of-the-art weather analysis and GIS technology.
Syngenta calls itself “a world-leading agribusiness committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology.” The company is a leader in crop protection, and ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in 2004 were approximately US$ 7.3 billion. Syngenta employs some 19,000 people in over 90 countries.
Syngenta
www.syngenta.com
www.soybeanrust.com
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