EXCITING crop innovations and in depth discussions on how arable varieties perform and suit farmers in the North, were at the heart of Syngenta’s recent summer demo day.

More than 100 farmers and agronomists attended the site at Crockey Hill near York, to see what was new in the sector, what's around the corner and, most importantly, how these innovations perform in the local area.

Adam Fairweather, Syngenta area manager, said they were excited to preview Solatenol, their powerful new SDHI fungicide, for the first time in Yorkshire.

He said: "Farmers really want confidence that new products and varieties are going to deliver at a local level in their situation, under a similar climate and weather conditions.

"Our season is always later than the south and eastern areas of the country, so local technical events like this allow farmers to make informed crop decisions for the coming season, based on local knowledge and experience.

"We know from the extensive development work carried out over several years, in over 700 UK field trials, that irrespective of the disease levels, Solatenol has proved itself. This is what we are starting to see at the site, with its performance exceeding that of current market standards."

The company had giant 3D electron microscopy images at the event to demonstrate how quickly Septoria and brown rust disease takes hold inside the leaf if left untreated – way before any visual signs of damage appear on the leaf.

Mr Fairweather said: "Farmers seemed really engaged, and were surprised that these were real images and not computer generated. There is no substitute for seeing how products and crop varieties actually perform."