Agriculture officials say, as of Oct. 1, there are still no lab-confirmed cases of late blight in Prince Edward Island potatoes.
It’s the first time in 11 years of record-keeping that there have been no cases of the potato fungus confirmed on the Island. Late blight can affect the growth of the crop and can also cause problems with storage.
“We had a lot of hot, dry weather through some of the summer,” said Brian Beaton, a potato industry expert with the Canada Department of Agriculture. “In order for the inoculum to have any impact, there have to be proper conditions, and we just didn’t have a lot of moisture in the middle of summer. We are along pretty far in the season … Hopefully we can get through the season without any major issues.”
Beaton said the province has worked with growers on management strategies and ran a program this year promoting the use of late blight-resistant tomatoes, which may have helped.
He cautions there could have been cases that went unreported, and late blight could still develop with the wet, warm weather in the last week.
Source: CBC News