Saskatchewan canola growers are relying on the province’s potato growers to help prevent clubroot from crossing the Alberta border.
Clubroot is an infectious root disease that first appeared in an Alberta canola crop in 2003 and has since spread to at least 250 fields in central Alberta and three in the southern portion of the province.
The latest confirmed spotting was in a field near Lethbridge, a prime canola growing area.
There is fear the disease could spread to Saskatchewan, home to 47 percent of the 2008 canola crop. The crop generated $1.43 billion in farm cash receipts in the province in 2007.
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One way the disease could migrate across the border is through the interprovincial trade of seed potatoes.
Alberta has been a reliable source of seed potatoes for Saskatchewan growers. Researchers worry disease spores could be carried across the border in the soil clinging to potato tubers.
Ron Howard, a plant pathology research scientist with Alberta Agriculture, said the losses associated with the disease can be staggering.
“The plant can’t take up nutrients and water anymore and it ultimately dies.”
Infections in the canola fields of central Alberta have generally been light to moderate, with yield losses of 20 percent or less. But there have been cases of 100 percent yield loss where farmers don’t even bother harvesting the crop.
In an effort to keep the disease contained to one prairie province, Saskatchewan seed potato growers should take precautions when buying product from Alberta.
Howard advises growers to ask their Alberta seller if clubroot has shown up on their farm, if they have tested their soil for the disease and if not, if they would mind having tests done.
“As far as we know, none of our seed potato farms have clubroot-contaminated soil,” he said.
Limited testing of Alberta potato tubers in 2007 showed no contamination but more extensive testing is required, said Howard. Other likely means of disease transmission are from the cross-border sale of farm equipment and the movement of oilfield equipment from Alberta to Saskatchewan.
“It could represent a risk if (equipment) is put on a truck unclean and trucked across the border,” he said.
All major oil and gas companies have protocols in place for cleaning their equipment when they leave areas of known infection. In the past few weeks, BHP Norwest Corp. contracted Swift Environmental Ltd. to set up a portable wash station on the east side of Lloyd-minster, Alta.
“They are washing and disinfecting oil and gas field equipment moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan as we speak,” said Howard.
But even with all the protective measures, the disease continues to spread. This fall, there will be a massive survey of more than 3,000 fields in Alberta conducted by government, university and industry researchers.
“I think we’ll see many more cases of clubroot,” said Howard.
