Alberta potato grower Jake Schutter is anxious about his crop this year.
The plant disease late blight, which was responsible for the 19th century Irish Potato Famine, has now become a serious issue in southern Alberta.
“In a matter of several days you could take a whole nice green field down to just a mess,” Schutter explained.
The culprit? Heavy rains over the last two years have allowed the disease, which feeds off of moisture, to thrive.
“It’s almost to the point that once it’s in your crop, it’s a salvage operation.”
Late blight is airborne. If not treated right away, it quickly spreads, rotting the potato from the inside out.
This has the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) on its toes.
“The detection of late blight, as far as we’re concerned, is serious,” said PGA executive director Terence Hochstein.
Once a field is infected, there’s no option but to bring out the sprayers.
“Each time that we are forced to have to go out to do a preventative spray, or a fungicide, it costs our industry about a million dollars per application.”
The PGA warns not only farmers, but also urban gardeners, to be on the lookout for any plants that look suspicious. Late blight attacks mainly potatoes and tomatoes, and because of its airborne nature, can spread beyond your garden.
“That’s also a concern to us, because that’s how the disease can be introduced in an area as well,” added Schutter.
For now, he says he’s keeping a close eye on his crop, waiting for a possible attack.
Source: Global News