The time for water protection is now: slug software enhances popular water stewardship app
An enhanced version of Adama’s popular WaterAware app has been developed and is ready to launch for Autumn 2016. With 42 percent of the 486 drinking water protected areas in England at risk, the enhanced WaterAware application is essential in the coming months.
The original WaterAware app was designed to help farmers, agronomists and sprayer operators prevent key active ingredients from entering and polluting raw water supplies and to avoid further regulatory restrictions. Having taken feedback from users, the new phase of the app, which is launching in July 2016, makes the existing functions easier to navigate, allowing users to save and store data according to either the products being used, or the fields being risk assessed.
The latest phase also incorporates Adama’s new ‘#SlugAware’ feature which enables users to assess the risk of slug and snail activity on a field-by-field basis.
The WaterAware app spatially assimilates soil type and soil moisture deficit information along with forecasted weather conditions and uses a traffic light system to advise farmers and sprayer operators when it is safe or unsafe to make chemical or pellet applications.
“The original WaterAware app has been a huge success and has proved to be an effective and reliable way for growers to identify the potential risk of active ingredients being washed into watercourses,” explains Ali Bosher, Marketing Director at Adama.
“Our ongoing commitment to promoting the responsible use of agrochemicals meant we were keen to develop an updated version of the app with additional functions such as #SlugAware.”
#SlugAware is designed to protect the longevity of metaldehyde-based slug pellets such as Gusto 3 by ensuring that pellets are only applied when absolutely necessary. By considering factors such as soil type, humidity, soil moisture, temperature, cultivation method, wind and current and previous crops, #SlugAware gives growers a low, medium or high threat of slug activity warning based on their land’s specific conditions in a given 24 to 72 hour period.
“Whether it is metaldehyde from slug pellets or key weed control active ingredients such as metazachlor, more needs to be done to prevent these and other agrochemicals from entering fresh water supplies,” Ali continues.
“UK agriculture has already lost more than 70% of the active substances at its disposal since the early 1990s. Put simply, if we as an industry don’t do more to protect our natural water resources, regulatory pressures will result in farmers facing a future with even fewer active ingredients and significantly restricted weed and pest control options.
“The improvements to WaterAware and the introduction of #SlugAware are aimed at giving growers better advice and helping them to make more informed crop protection decisions by ensuring key active ingredients are only ever applied at the right time.”
The upgraded WaterAware app (which now includes the #SlugAware feature as standard) is FREE to download from Google Play for Android devices or the Apple Store for Apple devices.
BASIS and NRoSO points available for using the app.
