Alberta’s potato sector is pointing to the success of a spore-trapping initiative that has helped keep late blight outbreaks under control while reducing unnecessary fungicide applications.

The program, run by the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) in partnership with Promax Agronomy Services, deploys 17 spore traps and 80 insect cards across the province each season from mid-June to early September. The data is used to detect airborne spores of late blight and other pathogens, helping growers respond more precisely to disease pressure.

According to Alberta Farmer Express, Terence Hochstein, executive director of the PGA, said: “We have traps all over the province, strategically located in the growing areas. Those traps are sampled every single day and once a week those samples are sent to the lab and tested.”

The newspaper also quoted Hochstein explaining the economic and environmental value of the approach: “Every time we don’t have to spray a fungicide, on average, that’s saving $2 million for the growers, and it’s over 60,000 kilograms of active ingredient that we don’t have to release into the environment.”

The initiative, first adopted in 2014, is supported by processors, ag-retailers, and volunteer labour including students from the University of Lethbridge. While the last major late blight outbreak in Alberta occurred in 1993, monitoring remains critical, as the pathogen thrives under prolonged wet conditions and can spread from even small backyard patches of potatoes.