Atlantic Canadian Potato Workshop
The vision shared by Yara and Phosyn for the future of agriculture, globally, is becoming more evident as time goes on. This Alliance brings comprehensive information technology, state of the art product lines, vast distribution networks, and accessible customer support channels, to farming communities across the major agricultural economies.
Achieving such goals, with the economic environment offered by agriculture these days, is no easy task. Keeping science, knowledge, and credibility at the forefront have been the building blocks in marketing a strategic and successful campaign that has done just that ..."bring global experience to achieve local results".
It was with these thoughts in mind that distributors from the Atlantic Maritimes Region of Canada, travelled to Phosyn UK to attend a workshop focused on potato production and it´s surrounding issues. Representatives from Cavendish Agri-Services (Doug Dawson), McCain Fertilizers Ltd (Bert Carr), the Agronomy Co. of Canada (Danny Blanchette) and Wilfred Kelly (Phosyn - Atlantic Canadian Territory Rep.) left -25 C temperatures to bask in the warmth of the English countryside, which upon arrival was experiencing a glorious + 13 C. Why go south for the winter months when you can spend a few days in the UK !?!
With approximately 175,000 acres of potatoes grown in this area, these gentlemen came with concerns and ideas regarding issues of "pro-active recommendations from analysis", crop nutrition and plant health, irrigation/fertigation practices, and to raise questions on specific agronomic issues in their given areas. They didn´t go away disappointed.
With the help of Dr. Kevin Moran, we were able to source some exceptional people who presented information addressing most of the issues presented by our friends from Canada. Marie-Laure Girard ( Yara International, Hanninghof Germany ) and Mr. Roy Houlden (Phosyn - UK and Eire Team) gave practical and very informative presentations regarding "Potato Crop Nutrition" and "Irrigation / Fertigation Opportunities". Quality people such as Ade Dawson, Andrew Sefton, Stuart Ward, David Tomkinson, David Bilsborough and Dr. Moran covered many other areas of interest. The success of this "first of its kind" workshop would not have been possible without the people mentioned above, and more importantly the alliance between Phosyn and Yara. After this preliminary exercise, it is evident that this format could be carried on to encompass many more crops in all corners of our markets.
Author: Mike McLaughlin, Canada
Published: March 2005