Growing healthy crops, only to see them infested by pest or disease, would break the heart of most growers – but on a crop protection research farm, it’s all part of the greater good.
At the 36 hectare Corteva Waireka research centre, field trials are undertaken in arable, forage, vegetable and fruit crops as part of the development of new crop protection solutions for both local and international markets.
Corteva Waireka farm manager Brent Stevens is the first to admit it can be hard to allow pests to build up unchecked or deliberately apply disease pathogens to blossoming fruit trees and vigorously growing vegetables. However, he’s proud to be contributing trial data informing the development of vital tools for growers around the world.
Corteva Agriscience is a foundation crop protection partner of the A Lighter Touch programme, and undertakes research and development at more than 120 facilities globally.
Corteva Waireka research centre in New Plymouth.
Waireka, which is te reo Māori for sweet water, is located near New Plymouth and has been a global research station since the 1980s. With a temperate climate, consistent summer rainfall and fertile volcanic soil, the station has a long growing season from August to April and can grow an extensive range of crops.
Waireka’s Southern Hemisphere location enables Corteva to conduct field trials year-round, providing data and results for the Northern Hemisphere during their winter months. As such it plays a crucial role in Corteva’s global research and development work, with two growing seasons a year helping to accelerate crop protection research.
Last season, 60 trials were undertaken at Waireka testing insecticide, herbicide and fungicide products, biologicals (including biofungicides, bioinsecticides and biostimulants), and seed applied technologies. More than half of the trials involved global discovery research, while the remainder were focused on contributing data to support product registration in New Zealand and Australia.
The pests and diseases targeted as part of the trials at Waireka include many of the crop protection priority gaps identified by A Lighter Touch sector partners, such as aphids, mites, powdery and downy mildew, rust and brown rot.
Resistance testing of herbicides is also undertaken at the station where growers have raised concerns about lack of efficacy. The work is undertaken as part of Corteva’s commitment to good stewardship in the industry.
Pictured are (from left) Matthew Denton Giles, Sydney Taylor, Bruno Gatimel, Glen Surgenor and obscured (on right) are John van der Linden and Nicole Morris.
Each summer, two research and development staff from across Corteva’s global network join the team at Waireka as part of Corteva’s knowledge exchange programme. The eight-to-ten week sabbaticals provide an opportunity for visiting scientists to share new ideas from the Northern Hemisphere, and take home insights from activities at Waireka.
The sabbatical programme has the additional benefit of creating relationships and connecting the team in New Zealand with the Corteva network globally. On occasion, those who have visited on sabbatical have returned on a longer-term basis, such as field scientist Johnny Wang, originally from China, who took up a permanent position at Waireka in January this year.
Corteva also hosts a summer internship programme at Waireka, in partnership with Callaghan Innovation. Running for 10 to 12 weeks, these internships are open to any university student undertaking study in the agricultural or biological sciences disciplines and offer a valuable opportunity to gain practical experience in field research and development.
Glen Surgenor takes a look at an apple tree at Waireka.
Find more information on Corteva on their website.
