Saskatchewan plans to expand its clubroot survey in 2018 as it tries to get a handle on where the disease might be and how to contain it.
Provincial plant disease specialist Barb Ziesman said 1,800 fields are expected to be sampled this year in the crop districts along the northern and eastern edges of the grain belt.
Clubroot was found in two fields last year in crop districts 9A and 9B in northwestern and north-central Saskatchewan. That compares to more than 2,700 fields now infected in Alberta.
Ziesman said the sampling will include soil DNA, as well as visible symptoms in canola crops.
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Past surveys have focused only on visible symptoms but she said earlier detection is needed if clubroot is to be controlled.
DNA technology can detect clubroot spores at 1,000 to 10,000 spores per gram of soil, compared to the 80,000 to 100,000 spores per gram detected when visible symptoms are seen.
Speaking at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention, Ziesman said the test fields will be randomly selected and equally distributed in the test zone. If clubroot is found, the general location of the field will be shared publicly and with the affected municipality.
RMs have the authority in Saskatchewan under the Pest Control Act to deal with regulated pests such as clubroot. RMs can pass bylaws to make clubroot reporting mandatory. A survey of delegates in the room found 78 percent did not have bylaws.
Landowners or producers who do have clubroot will be required to develop a science-based management plan, Ziesman said.
“We’re proposing a farmer-driven style of regulation,” she said. “Under the pest control act, it does favour regulation that is in the best interest of the producer and the community.”
The producer will work with a registered professional agrologist and have 30 days to report back to the pest control officer with a proposed plan. If a formal agreement can’t be reached, the pest control officer has the ability to write an order but Ziesman said that would be a last resort.
The ministry has proposed that no regulation be required in fields where the pathogen is detected but there are no visible symptoms. Instead, the farmer and landowner would be encouraged to take proactive management.
This would include proper cleaning of vehicles entering fields, making sure to minimize soil movement through minimum tillage systems, extending crop rotations to at least three years between canola crops, and planting clubroot resistant canola varieties.
Ziesman said RMs must have a consistent response to the disease to avoid situations like Alberta’s. Some counties have had strict regulations while others have had none, she said.
“This has resulted in a fear that producers are not confident how it’s going to be regulated on their farms so they are afraid to disclose it,” she said. “Some producers are not being proactive. Even though clubroot is found on their farms, they’re not extending their rotations, they’re not using resistant varieties or they’re using resistant varieties with a short rotation and what this is doing is allowing those pathogen levels to increase.”
The pathogen will overcome a plant’s genetic resistance if a resistant variety is grown too often.
Delegates passed four resolutions submitted by the RM of Fertile Belt about clubroot management.
They include asking SARM to lobby the provincial government for an annual updated clubroot map, make it mandatory for the origin of all used equipment sold in Saskatchewan to be stated, provide a list of certified sanitation facilities and that all clubroot locations found in the province be reported to the ministry.
“The government should take responsibility and make (reporting) mandatory in Saskatchewan,” said reeve Arlynn Kurtz.
Other delegates said contractors, crown corporation utility vehicles and hunters all need to be aware of the threat to the province’s canola industry if clubroot spreads.
Ziesman said 90 percent of the time clubroot is first found at field entrances and that’s why restricting entry is so important.
