By Philippa Stevenson
An innovative Internet-based system linking asparagus growers directly to the latest crop research has been unveiled to the industry.
The computer-backed decision support system, designed to help growers make management decisions that will improve crop production, was hailed as "the best thing since sliced bread" when shown to growers
on Friday.
The chairman of the Asparagus Research Council, Lesley McKeown, said she had great hopes for the high-tech tool demonstrated at a seminar in Rotorua.
Asparagus plantings have shrunk from 3500ha in 1989 to around 2000ha, while some growers and scientists have turned to research to find better-yielding varieties and growing methods.
Crop and Food scientist Derek Wilson, who has headed a team which has developed the interactive support system, said much had been learned about the crop.
"We have been looking for more smart ways to get the research results out to growers," he said.
Dr Wilson said it was usually assumed that vigorous fern leads to high spear yield and quality so management had focused on above-ground growth.
However, research had shown that management of the storage root system was more important, and that quality and spear yield depended on the availability of soluble carbohydrate in the roots during harvest.
Dr Wilson said a simple and cheap method had been developed for farmers to estimate the carbohydrate level in the root system.
They could feed the information into an interactive software package on Crop and Food Research's Web site.
"It will interpret root carbohydrate content data and help growers to make management decision to optimise crop performance," he said.
The system would also accumulate information about the performance of each crop registered with it. Coded access would ensure each growers' information was secure.
Dr Wilson said several growers were testing the system which could be "the guinea pig" for similar systems for other crops. It was expected to be available to all growers in about a year.
Up to six years of Government-funded research into asparagus was behind the programme, while the Research Ministry's Technology for Business Growth and the asparagus industry had jointly spent $80,000 developing the computer programme.
