Sask. Agriculture released its latest Clubroot Distribution Map
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A crop disease capable of robbing significant yields from canola fields appears to be spreading slowly in Saskatchewan.
After processing more than 1,700 clubroot samples in 2019, Saskatchewan Agriculture confirmed clubroot in 51 commercial canola fields through its updated Clubroot Distribution Map. That number represents an increase of eight cases since 2017.
In addition to the confirmed cases, officials from the ag ministry and results from some of the 180 tests submitted by SaskCanola found the clubroot pathogen in five fields that didn’t have visible symptoms.
New rural municipalities with clubroot presence include ones northeast of Yorkton and southwest of Saskatoon.
Publishing these results alerts farmers to be on the lookout for the crop disease.
“Clubroot awareness and management is of increasing importance for the agriculture industry,” David Marit, Saskatchewan’s minister of agriculture, said in a Jan. 13 statement. “We want to help farmers prevent further spread of the disease. Knowing where clubroot exists in the province helps us do that.”
A slow spread of the disease is better than finding clubroot in an unexpected location.
“To see it as a gradual development, I guess, is encouraging because, number one, it means that it didn’t end up in places where we weren’t expecting it,” said SaskCanola chair Lane Stockbrugger, Discover Humboldt reported. “So that’s a positive, but it allows us now to look at it and say, where do we need to focus on building those plans with farmers to reduce the spread of it.”
Farms.com has reached out to government officials and members of the canola industry for comment on the spread of clubroot.