Young plant business trends “to shape the future”

On January 28 and 29, Syngenta held the International Tomato Grafting Conference in Almeria, Spain to discuss the development vision for a profitable tomato business in terms of technology, infrastructures and hygiene. The conference was focused on the combinations between rootstocks and scions to optimize the tomato crop potential and supply a winning combination to fulfil grower’s needs.

The International Tomato Grafting Conference brought together 175 young plant raisers, primarily from the Mediterranean countries Spain, Italy, Turkey and Morocco. Also participants from Israel, Greece, France, Hungary, The Netherlands, Uzbekistan, South Africa and Australia joined the two-day conference.

Massimo Enzo, Syngenta Head of Marketing for Protected Vegetables inaugurated the conference highlighting the fast growth of rootstock usage not only in tomato but in other major crops. “This segment had a global value of about 370 million dollars in 2013 and is expected to reach 650 million dollars in 2018, 50% of it corresponds to tomato rootstock.”

Specialized companies like Innogreen or Van der Lugt explained to the participants why grafting is a great solution for abiotic stress management in long protected tomato cycle and what we can expect in 2020 in the young plant business.

Francisco Rodríguez Noguerón, Syngenta Head of Vegetables in Iberia, shared a practical example of what has been developed in Spain in order to supply winning combinations between tomato scion and rootstock, “the advantages that each of the rootstock technologies provide depends on the good combination with an adequate tomato variety. A good combined selection between both, rootstock and variety, will end up in an increased and more consistent productivity and crop quality”

Syngenta offer includes a wide range of rootstock varieties like Arbiore, Dohkko, Armstrong, Arnold and Kardia, that are providing high seed germination and uniformity.

Hygiene protocols were also discussed at the conference. Claire Peusens, GSPP Manager spoke about Good Seed Plant Practice (GSPP) which prevents tomato seeds and young plants to be infected by Clavibacter michiganensis (Cmm). Giovanna Causarano, R&D Manager for Centro Seia Group, introduced concrete steps applied in hygiene and risk management in a multi-site located nursery group.

Attendants had the opportunity to visit Syngenta’s R&D centre Rafael Canton in El Eijido, to learn about the latest developments in rootstock varieties and winning combinations, research initiatives in breeding, and gain some insights on implementing GSPP at R&D and Seed Production Centres. During the visit, Syngenta´s Global Head of Vegetables and Specialties, David Morgan said “Rootstock technologies have become a key tool to provide not only biotic stress properties against root diseases but also abiotic stress protection due to temperature fluctuations or salinity. Definitely, rootstock techniques are increasing crop and growers sustainability in terms of productivity, consistency and quality”.

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