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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 19 at which each is moving," Moreland says. "If necessary, I can change the directions they're moving and adjust water amounts with my fingertips. I will get a text, email or call if anything goes wrong—the app gives us that immediate notification and saves us trips to the fields." Morris and Moreland are just two of the many ag professionals who have adopted mobile technology to work more efficiently. "The most significant value created by mobile communications is a return on time invested," says Tommy Jackson, an executive account lead for Syngenta Crop Protection. "Our growers have the ability to make decisions quickly because the information they need is right at their fingertips." To help keep its customers on the cutting edge of mobile technology, Syngenta is hard at work delivering digital tools that drive efficiency and accelerate profit potential. "Slightly more than 50 percent of the traffic on our websites comes from mobile devices," says Tom Lesser, a digital marketing lead at Syngenta. "Whenever we build or change anything on our websites, we take a mobile-first approach to design." GROWERS BENEFIT FROM ON- THE-GO PEST ALERTS Pest Patrol, a Syngenta tool developed to provide free and timely agronomic information for ag professionals throughout the South, is another way growers and crop consultants can get information quickly on their mobile devices. They can sign up on the Pest Patrol website to receive text messages from university personnel and Syngenta agronomic service representatives (ASRs) from any of the 11 participating states. When specialists post crop updates, subscribers receive text messages with a Pest Patrol website link that takes them to a short recorded commentary on a timely topic. The program sees significant annual growth. "It helps land-grant university extension specialists gain a wider audience for the information they generate and gives growers and crop consultants the in-season information they need to be more efficient," says Syngenta marketing communications lead Pam Caraway. North Carolina State University extension entomologist Dominic Reisig is a regular contributor to Pest Patrol. "It's one of the methods I use to get timely updates to farmers and crop consultants during the growing season," he says. "Our extension participants tell us that this is the program they receive the most positive feedback from." Mississippi-based Syngenta ASR Tripp Walker started posting alerts last year when growers needed in-season updates on the status of herbicides under regulatory review. "I use it in situations where I need to provide more information than a text message can," says Walker, who encourages growers to sign up now for this year's growing season. "The alerts are focused and precise and have been well-received both internally and externally." This article was originally published in Syngenta's Thrive Magazine in July 2021, and has been reprinted with permission.