Soil Bacteria Could Protect Against Late Blight

A research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has discovered that naturally occurring bacteria found in some Saskatchewan and Alberta soils could offer protection against late blight disease in potatoes. Sue Boyetchko and her team are taking the bacteria, multiplying them in a lab and applying the bacteria to potato plants as well as the tubers themselves. “What we are trying to do is develop this into a product so that farmers or home gardeners can apply it at the right place, at the right time in order to control this disease,” she says. Now on the third year of this research project, Boyetchko and her team are working on how to mass-produce the bacteria. She says it will still be a few years before the product could be commercially available and they are currently looking for investors and industry input.