A Lighter Touch (ALT) hosted an educational webinar series to share what is currently known about soilborne diseases (SBD), what management tools growers have available to them now, and the direction of future innovations for management of these diseases.
These webinars were hosted online during September 2025 with growers and crop protection advisors from across New Zealand attending.
Click on the title of each webinar to view the video recordings on the ALT YouTube channel, including the questions put to speakers following their presentations. Written responses to questions not able to be answered during the webinars will be added to this page when they are available.
- Webinar 1: Why are soilborne diseases so challenging? (1 hour) with Dr. Len Tesoriero, held on September 10, 2025.
- Webinar 2: Nematodes and their relationship with soilborne diseases (45 minutes) with Dr. Manjula Kularathna, held on September 17, 2025.
- Webinar 3: A focus on some of the key soilborne diseases (1 hour and 7 minutes) with Dr. Soonie Chng, held on September 23, 2025.
- Webinar 4: Future innovation (1 hour 41 minutes) with Mark Braithwaite of Plant Diagnostics, John Mackay of dnature, Hugh Richardson of Enza Zaden NZ and Dereck Ferguson, of Ferguson Agronomy, held on September 25, 2025.
- Additional questions and answers from webinars can be downloaded here.
- More information about the ALT- Process Vegetables NZ project, discussed in Webinar 3, can be found on this project page, and further information about the ALT-New Zealand Buttercup Squash Council SBD project, discussed in Webinar 4, can be found here.
Thank you to our experts for their contribution to the SBD webinar series, hosted by ALT.
If you have any questions about this webinar series please contact us at news@a-lighter-touch.co.nz.
