The Windolf family have been farming in Queensland’s salad bowl, the Lockyer Valley, for three generations. Last season was one of the more memorable in terms of disease pressure.
Left to right: Corteva Agriscience Territory Account Manager, Adam Harber (left), Elders Horticultural Agronomist, Greg Teske, Jayson Windolf and James Windolf. at the Lockyer Valley Growers Expo
“Last year we had incredible disease pressure,” Mr Windolf said.
“The cucurbits have been tough this last year. They can be looking fantastic and then suddenly down they go.”
Jayson and his family, including son James, run a small cropping operation across approximately 2,000 acres at Windolf Farms. They grow a range of crops including lettuce, broccoli, baby leaf spinach, carrots, watermelons, pumpkins, potatoes and onions.
They were among a bustling crowd at the Lockyer Valley Growers Expo, staged 14 to 15 June at the Gatton Research Facility. The Expo featured vegetable variety demonstrations, machinery and technology displays, plus the opportunity to speak with leading vegetable industry supply-chain experts.
It’s an event Elders Horticultural Agronomist, Greg Teske, knows well, having worked with growers in the region for decades.
“Industry and the Valley come together, so that’s all your resellers plus key growers and it’s a great event for sharing ideas,” Mr Teske said.
Mr Teske has been working with Windolf Farms on a trial of Verpixo® Adavelt® active, a naturally inspired fungicide from Corteva Agriscience. The flexible new product brings a new mode of action for the control of damaging ascomycete diseases such as botrytis, powdery mildew, sclerotinia, Alternaria, septoria and many others.
“Verpixo was far better in the trial than all the other products,” Mr Teske said.
“There’s a couple of products I had been using quite a lot over the years and Verpixo outshone them all.”
Mr Windolf said it was a welcome development.
“A new mode of action is great because we are starting to exhaust the ones we’ve relied upon and they’re not doing what they should,” Mr Windolf said.
Verpixo is registered in curcubits, fruiting vegetables, leafy vegetables and strawberries. Belonging to the FRAC Group 21, it has no known cross resistance to other fungicide groups making it ideally suited for inclusion in resistance management programs. It can be used for a wide range of crops at multiple growth stages allowing farmers to achieve improved efficiency.
Corteva Agriscience marketing manager Nick Koch, said it was critical to work closely with industry leaders such as Elders and Mr Teske to help bring new solutions to growers.
“Corteva is a generator of new technologies, so it is critical to work with trusted advisors, such as Greg, to help us demonstrate their effectiveness and value as well as receive feedback from growers,” Mr Koch said.
“For example, all the growers we’ve spoken to here at the Lockyer Valley Growers Expo have clearly articulated that new chemistry is great, but it needs to be stewarded.
“There’s a clear understanding that if new chemistry is abused because of overuse and misunderstanding as to how a resistance management strategy works, with the rotation of different mode of action groups, then a new chemistry can be very short lived.
“The tools in the arsenal to control diseases are shrinking because they’re losing effectiveness, due to a misunderstanding or a neglect of the resistance management strategy. However, that’s a positive from my point of view because people are acutely aware that new chemistry needs to be protected.”
Mr Koch said in further good news for growers, Verpixo’s registration will soon be expanded to cover additional crops and diseases.
“The benefit of having one product that has the flexibility to control multiple diseases, across multiple crops gives growers the freedom to manage their spray programs. It takes a lot of pressure off their existing resistance management spray program.”
Mr Teske welcomed the news of the expanded registration.
“That’s a big plus coming into this next season,” he said.
“It’s very exciting times ahead.”
This article was written by Corteva Agriscience for Seasons magazine.
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