b'Irish Potato Famine Disease Still Lurks in CanadaResearch and education are key to keeping potato plants safe from disease transfer by tomatoes.BY: SHEL ZOLKEWICHWHILE COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS have encouraged home gardeners to dive deep into growing their own produce now that they have more time on their hands, it carries risk for the commercial potato crop in Canada. The issue is late blight, caused by the fungus-like pathogen Phtrophthora infestans. And while it can cause disappointing losses for homegrown tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, it can decimate entire potato crops. Late blight is the disease which was respon-sible for the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. It destroyed half of the potato crop in 1845 and about three-quarters of the crop over the next seven years. An estimated one million people died and another one million fled the country because of starvation and poverty. So far, late blight has been absent in most of the country this year, with only a few minor reports of the disease, says Rick Peters, research scientist in vegetable pathology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). This is due to the hot, dry weather that has prevailed in much of the country. This could change though, if the weather becomes wetter in late summer/fall and growers need to remain vigilant.As a preventative approach, the Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Land and AAFC restarted a campaign which began five years ago to educate home gardeners about the problem. Potatoes are the most significant agricultural crop in P.E.I. Last year, P.E.I. exported over $400 million in seed, fresh and processed potato products. When the program was launched, disease resistant varieties of tomatoes had recently been developed and are now more widely available at garden centres.Rick Peters, research scientist in vegetable pathology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has done research and outreach work about the risk late blight on tomato plants can cause to commercial tomato crops. In 2020, many of the locally-owned and oper- PHOTO: RICK PETERS44 SPUDSMART.COM WINTER 2021'