Status® provides insurance on high-value crops
Lewis Wilson, Scotland-based agronomist for Frontier Agriculture, is applying the pure plant biostimulant Status® to potatoes, carrots and parsnip crops this season as an insurance policy against adverse weather conditions.
“With weather patterns being so unpredictable now, we need to do something to help the crop cope should we have a stressful season,” he said. “We know from trials that Status® helps the crop maintain green leaf for longer so it can continue to photosynthesise and build yield. Last season it wasn’t really put to the test in Scotland because we had quite a good season, but it’s important to have insurance for when things aren’t so good, especially on high value crops like potatoes.”
Mr Wilson has been using plant biostimulants for several years now and has seen a marked shift in the way they are researched and tested. “When I first started looking at biostimulants there wasn’t a lot of information available on what they contain and how they work – it was all a bit of ‘muck and magic’ – but now companies are putting a lot more science behind it and really explaining how they work and what you can expect. Status® is one of the most researched biostimulants on the market and that gives you confidence to recommend it to customers.”
Status® is a combination of two pure plant biostimulants: the patented MTU® and Pidolic acid. It promotes photosynthesis and nitrogen assimilation so that in a poor season the crop maintains green leaf area for longer and recovers more quickly from abiotic stress. In a good season, nutrient use efficiency improves. Farmers can make significant reductions in fertiliser applications without compromising yield or choose to maintain their fertiliser programme and benefit from increases in yield and quality.
Lewis Wilson has seen evidence of this in local trials. “Last year was a good season, so we didn’t have stress issues, but testing of Status® on farm in our potato crop showed an increase in tuber numbers. More importantly, the size of those tubers was more consistent than in crops treated with other biostimulants or left untreated. When you’re growing a seed crop, uniformity is key especially with a tight size banding, which makes the crop more marketable.”
Mr Wilson is using Status® this season in his root vegetables, applying it early to make sure the crop is protected if the weather turns. “I build Status® into my strategy to take the sting out of any adverse weather and allow the crop to reduce stress and retain green leaf. And if the weather stays good, I will get benefits in yield and quality. This season I have used Status® in conjunction with GroPlan P on sprouts and also on late drilled oilseed rape. The GroPlan P helps to produce a good root structure and the Status® helps the plant to benefit from that with better nitrogen uptake and assimilation. In cereals and oilseed rape we know that by keeping the leaves green for as long as you can the crop keeps building yield.”
Status® is compatible with a wide range of other crop inputs, which makes it both cost effective and easy to use. As Mr Wilson concludes, “Farmers aren’t going to want to have a separate pass through the crop just to put a biostimulant on, so the crop safety element is important. Status® has a wide compatibility list and is benign in the tank, so it can go on when you’re applying other inputs.”
Status® is available in the UK exclusively from Frontier Agriculture and overseas via a network of distributors. Find more information and trials results here.
25th June 2024
