The Canadian government is giving the Canadian Horticultural Council $2.3 million for research on managing Potato Early Dying (PED) disease, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Marie-Claude Bibeau says in an announcement at the Canadian Horticultural Council AGM today in Ottawa on March 11.
The research work is meant to provide potato growers with the knowledge, tools and technologies they need to manage PED. As part of the project the Canadian Horticulture Council will survey potato fields to determine PED levels and evaluate how PED is controlled through growers’ cropping systems, best management practices and control products.
The horticulture sector will contribute an additional $991,918 towards this research, making the total investment more than $3.3 million.
PED is a disease which causes premature aging in potato plants and can reduce yields by as much as 50 per cent.
