Farmers Fight to Help Curb the Spread of Clubroot Affecting Alberta's Canola

Clubroot (as the disease is known) made it's first appearance in a canola field north of Edmonton in 2003. It has now spread to 11 counties in the province.

Experts say the disease can sharply reduce canola yields and in some cases can wipe out a crop in an area. The canola sector pumped about $4.5 billion into Alberta's economy last year.

Farm groups recently called on Alberta Agriculture to come up with a "substantial and immediate" plan to educate the energy industry about how dirt on its vehicles and equipment can spread clubroot.

"To make them aware how the equipment used in oil and gas exploration, reclamation and production as well as construction equipment can spread the disease," says a resolution passed by Alberta's Agricultural Service Boards.

"And how those industries can implement best management practices that will prevent the spread of clubroot."

Alberta Agriculture says it considers clubroot to be a serious threat to canola, an industry that is expected to further expand once the biodiesel market fully develops. The department warns that if the disease goes unchecked it has the potential to spread to most of the traditional canola growing areas of western Canada.

Alberta has included clubroot as a designated pest under the Agriculture Pest Act and has designated money to develop a new strain of clubroot-resistant canola.

In the meantime, the province is concentrating on educating the energy sector about how simply cleaning contaminated soil from vehicles and equipment can thwart the spread of the destructive disease.

Murray Hartman, an Alberta Agriculture oilseed specialist, has been speaking at energy industry conferences to put the word out.

"This is our most serious threat from disease right now. When it gets into a field it stays there for perhaps two decades," Hartman said.

"Any equipment that is working on farm fields and is to be transported somewhere else must be cleaned before it is moved somewhere else."

Hartman said farmers seem to be aware of the risk and are being urged not to sign land leases with energy companies unless the companies agree to clean its equipment.

Under changes to the Pest Act, farmers are responsible for their land.

"Farmers are saying, 'No, I'm not signing a lease unless you clean,"' he said.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is working with the province to develop a protocol for the energy industry to help keep clubroot in check.

The protocol is to include the need to communicate clearly with farmers and landowners and a standard plan to clean equipment, said CAPP vice-president David Pryce.

"Talk to the landowners and find out if clubroot is on the land and where you are coming from," Pryce said.

"The main tool is the ability to clean the equipment up before it moves around."

Pryce noted that it is important for the province to come up with rules for all land users, including agricultural service and recreational vehicles, to ensure that mitigation efforts are effective.

Alberta Agriculture also says longer rotation between canola crops can restrict development of the disease.

The Canola Council of Canada estimates the industry is worth about $14 billion per year nationally. Saskatchewan, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and the Maritimes also produce significant canola crops.

President JoAnne Buth said the Alberta government appears to have jumped quickly on its clubroot problem and the council is satisfied with the province's response.

Buth said growers should be vigilant and keep close watch on their canola fields. A council official said a special clubroot information website is being development with the federal government.

"We are making people aware in other provinces about it," Buth said from Winnipeg.

"Producers need to look at their fields very, very carefully. Growers have the responsibility of keeping things like this in check."

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