Plant Health Care products underpins biological programme

Date:02-21-2023

A two-year study carried out by Plant Health Care’s exclusive UK distributor Agrii has revealed how a programme of biosolutions including ProAct^® can dramatically reduce the need for synthetic inputs in strawberry production.

Every year, tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables are wasted because plant diseases and skin defects lead to produce being discarded before it can be consumed. This inefficiency comes with financial and environmental costs; excess land and resources use, carbon emissions and billions in wasted investment and unrealised value.

Total UK waste on farm is estimated to be around 3.6 million tonnes, with a further 9.5 million tonnes wasted in the supply chain and households.

The fresh strawberry supply chain has mostly relied upon traditional synthetic fungicides, fertilisers, and plastic packaging to keep produce in good condition during harvest, transport and storage to meet consumer standards for appearance and shelf-life. Even with these tools, total UK waste on-farm is estimated to be around 3.6 million tonnes, with a further 9.5 million tonnes wasted in the supply chain and households ¹. Now as consumers demand more sustainable produce, and the availability of traditional chemical inputs are in decline due to environmental concerns whilst their prices continue to rise, the transition to biological management approaches is becoming increasingly urgent.

The core purpose of Plant Health Care is to help farmers grow their crops more sustainably and this trial shows how Plant Health Care's products make this reality. Since beginning the partnership with Agrii, soft fruit growers in the UK have been using Plant Health Care's flagship biostimulant ProAct^®, containing 1% Harpin ⍺β, to increase yields, reduce the impact of environmental stress and maintain a longer post-harvest shelf-life, all of which contributes to an increased level of sustainability in the horticulture sector. 

Over two years of trials the integrated biological programme has been shown to reduce the amount of synthetic fungicides needed to maintain fruit quality by 58%

The most recent research, carried out under Agrii’s Green Horizons sustainable food production project has taken this further. In a recent trial, strawberries treated with a biological input programme including ProAct^® had more than 20% less rotted fruit than those berries treated with a traditional standard programme programme of boscalid, pyraclostrobin, cyprodinil, fludioxonil and fenhexamide ². Building on this finding, Agrii have developed an integrated biological programme for strawberries combining commercial biofungicides and ProAct^®. Over two years of trials the integrated biological programme has been shown to reduce the amount of synthetic fungicides needed to maintain fruit quality by 58% ³. This is a significant reduction for a crop which may typically receive upwards of 12 fungicide applications.

With the first harpin-derived PREtec peptides now reaching major global markets this is just the beginning of Plant Health Care's journey.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources#united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme2-indicator-2-2-2

2. https://www.agrii.co.uk/blog/strawberry-shelf-life-extended-by-biologicals/

3. https://www.agrii.co.uk/blog/two-year-study-supports-increased-role-for-biological-fungicides/