Australia’s premier horticulture conference served as the ideal backdrop for the unveiling of Corteva Agriscience’s latest naturally inspired solution to help growers meet their resistance challenges.
At a special launch event at Hort Connections, Corteva horticulture marketing manager, Nick Koch said the naturally inspired fungicide, Verpixo Adavelt active, is coming to the Australian market at a time when existing chemistries are under threat of resistance.
“One of the great advantages of Verpixo Adavelt active is that it is a new mode of action that will suit many horticultural programs and allow growers to think strategically about resistance management,” Mr Koch said.
“It has excellent environmental credentials, is useful across a wide range of crops and diseases and has no cross resistance with other fungicides used for ascomycete pathogens.”
Adavelt active is a proven, highly effective new fungicide that will help farmers achieve healthy and abundant yields while strengthening resistance management strategies. Diseases controlled include grey mould (botrytis), powdery mildew, target spot, yellow sigatoka, gummy stem blight, anthracnose, septoria, and sclerotina rot.
Verpixo Adavelt active has now been registered by the APVMA for use in strawberries, fruiting vegetables, leafy vegetables and cucurbits and will be commercially available this October. Vines and banana registrations are expected 2024.
The launch comes as Corteva emphasised its commitment to sustainability, with the pledge that every Corteva Agriscience innovation in the research and development pipeline must meet sustainability criteria by 2025.
The commitment to embed sustainability into every facet of the business is underpinned by support of events such as the National Awards for Excellence at Hort Connections, where Corteva sponsors the Young Grower of the Year Award.
Nine nominees were in the running for the coveted honour, and they descended on Adelaide from around the country. Corteva hosted the elite young growers at Weber’s famous Grill Academy, where they not only learned the secret to a perfect steak while overlooking the scenic Victoria Park but got the chance to swap ideas and share their on-farm knowledge and experience.
In a hotly contested field, Robert Arvier emerged victorious, crowned 2023 Young Grower of the Year at the Hort Connections Gala Dinner (See separate story overleaf).
The 35-year-old agronomist is managing director of West Pine Ag, producing high-value irrigated vegetables on Tasmania’s north coast. He said sustainability and diversification is central to the business, which operates a store in nearby Penguin and took the lead in developing a large plant in Victoria which repurposes a by-product from baking yeast to create stock feed and fertiliser.
Mr Arvier said West Pine Ag had invested in automated irrigation as a water saving effort, a project to use crop residues as biofuel and repurposing waste.
He was also one of the speakers on Corteva’s sustainability panel at Hort Connections, joining previous Young Grower of the Year finalist and general manager at Zerella Fresh, Renee Pye, and Corteva commercial unit leader for Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Kent Davies.
The crowd of about 200 heard about the practical measures being undertaken on-farm at West Pine Ag and Zerella Fresh. Ms Pye said one of the biggest challenges facing producers in South Australia’s Mallee region is a shortage of labour, with the company recently building 27 family-style homes to accommodate staff.
Mr Davies said Corteva’s position as a leader in sustainability, would be reinforced with the launch of a new range of biological solutions in early 2024, developed to embrace balance and keep farms healthy and productive.
