Toolkit coming for sweet corn growers

Toolkit coming for sweet corn growers

The bright-coloured kernels of freshly-cooked sweet corn look delectable on their own and liven up any meal. But what’s the most sustainable and economic way to produce this crop?

Over the years, there has been much research completed on sweet corn and now the knowledge gained is being gathered together and put in easy-to-use formats. These will include:
* a crop manual available in print and on CD-ROM,
* a field notebook to accompany the manual,
* a cost of production calculator plus a sweet corn forecaster - that will predict yields and fertiliser inputs, and
* a wall-chart showing crop growth and management requirements.

The sweet corn toolkit is a three-year project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Sustainable Farming Fund, Horticulture New Zealand’s Process Vegetable Product Group, Cedenco, Heinz Wattie, McCain Foods, and Balance Agri-nutrients.

“There is a lot of quality information on sweet corn tied up in people’s heads and in scientific reports that needs to be captured by the industry,” says Sarah Bromley, HortNZ Business Manager. “We realise the information is out there, but this project will make it more accessible to growers in the one package so they can use it to maximise their profitability.”

“HortNZ’s Process Vegetable Product Group sees this project as a positive test case for improving practical technology transfer across the vegetable industry and developing relationships between growers, processors, and supporting industries including scientists,” she says.

Project manager, Jeff Reid of Crop & Food Research, Hastings, says it is great to see the work of scientists being made readily available to people who can make good use of it.

“While there are many successful sweet corn growers, it is always useful and sometimes profitable to take some of the guesswork out of production. The calculator and forecaster will help to do this,” Dr Reid said.

A project advisory group with grower and processing company representatives was formed last November and the content of the toolkit decided. Work on the toolkit components is now well underway.

The crop manual will include information on: the sweet corn industry, plant growth and crop physiology, growing site selection, cultivation and plant nutrition, crop establishment, weeds, pests, diseases, irrigation and water management, harvest and post-harvest handling. There will also be a chapter to assist with trouble shooting and an extensive list of further resources.

Science and industry experts in the many aspects relating to sweet corn production have agreed to contribute to the manual. This will ensure the most relevant, up-to-date, practical information is included.

The project advisory group team are gathering information for the computerised cost of production calculator. They have decided the forecaster will have the ability to forecast yield, and the crop response to fertiliser and irrigation. Experiments to test it will begin in commercial crops in the next growing season.

The sweet corn toolkit including the manual (in printed and CD-ROM formats), the field notebook, the production calculator and the yield and fertiliser forecaster is on schedule to be launched by HortNZ in 2008.

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