By Nigel Maxwell

Clubroot spreading across Saskatchewan, says new report

Oct 31, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Visible symptoms of clubroot have been confirmed in 37 Saskatchewan canola fields across the northern agricultural regions, according to a new report from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The area where clubroot was confirmed has expanded outside of crop districts 9AE, 9AW and 9B (2017 findings) to include districts 7B, 6B, and 5B.

Ministry of Agriculture Plant Disease Specialist Barb Ziesman told farmnewsNOW the risk of clubroot is increasing.

“The good news is we have an idea where it is and we can be proactive and the biggest thing is every producer in Saskatchewan should be thinking about clubroot,” she said.

Ziesman said all the growers affected by clubroot will be contacted and advised to follow the protocol outlined in the Saskatchewan Clubroot Management Plan which includes monitoring fields. In response to clubroot detections in the Fall of 2017, and to better understand the scope of clubroot in the province, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture led an extensive clubroot survey in 2018. With the in-field portion of the survey recently concluded, soil testing is now underway at the laboratory.

Province says tax credit fuels investments in bioprocessing industry

13h ago

Nature Conservancy celebrating successful fundraising campaign for McIntyre Ranch

Apr 22, 2024

EARTH DAY IN THE AG WORLD

How one company is reducing agricultural waste on Earth Day

Apr 22, 2024

“The soil testing allows us to detect the pathogen at low levels,” Ziesman said. “Once we have [those results] the ministry will be putting together a clubroot distribution map so that’ll share some more information on the clubroot findings.”

The expected release date of the distribution map is early 2019. If clubroot is found outside of the survey, growers and agronomists are asked to contact the ministry before the end of the year so that additional locations can be added to the map to ensure it is as representative as possible. Specific locations of fields with clubroot presence will not be shared publicly.

“SaskCanola is fully supportive of the Ministry’s efforts in conducting the clubroot survey to formulate a distribution map,” SaskCanola Chair Doyle Wiebe said in a statement. “Our goal is to help canola growers prevent the introduction of clubroot into new areas and, where already present, to help them take steps to mitigate the disease.”

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell