The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) will celebrate the national release of its digital disease, pest and weed early warning and surveillance system – GrowNotes Alert – at the Birchip Cropping Group Main Field Day today.

GrowNotes Alert has been rolled out in recent months to notify subscribers about the Russian wheat aphid (RWA) biosecurity alert, as well as blackleg and sclerotinia in canola, ascochyta of chickpea, and foliar rust pressure on wheat and barley.

These early warnings have resulted in growers actively looking for these diseases and pests in their crops, enabling them to act quickly to contain their spread.

Development of the system was led by Agriculture Victoria project leader Chris Pittock, who said there was now increased demand for the service.

“Over 4000 people saw our sclerotinia alert, with most hits coming from the Northern region – and a large number of those visitors clicked through for further information,” Dr Pittock said.

“Critically, the system is two-way, allowing growers to upload photos on the spot, feeding relevant and immediate information back to our extensive range of experts across Australia.”

GrowNotes Alert builds on the existing success of GRDC GrowNotes, which contains a wide body of national expertise in one place, as well as numerous resources, including eXtensionAUS, CropSafe, CropPro, PestFacts, PestFax and Plant Health Australia, to name a few.

GrowNotes Alert directs users to available, up-to-date information regarding an identified issue and delivers notifications at a critical time to ensure immediate action can be taken.

Subscribers can choose to receive that information as push notifications to their smart phones, tablets or computers as an SMS and/or email, or by logging into the GrowNotes Alert subscriber website portal.

Twitter handles @GNAlertNorth @GNAlertSouth and @GNAlertWest can also be followed.

“Sign up now and you will receive a free super macro lens which can be attached to your phone or tablet – this will literally help users to get a clear, and close up, picture of any crop concerns and make it easy to submit to our experts for identification of emerging issues,” Dr Pittock said.

Source: GRDC, Agriculture Victoria. The free Apple (iOS) app is also available to download now, with an Android version almost store-ready. If you are yet to subscribe to GrowNotes Alert then act now to reap the rewards of these emerging technologies in agriculture. Growers, agronomists and grains industry personnel should subscribe now by visiting www.grdc.com.au/grownotesalert and following the prompts to personalise your private subscription