🌞 Summer Field Surveys Are Underway!
Each summer, the Agricultural Services team surveys local fields — including wheat, canola, potatoes, and even roadside ditches — to monitor grasshopper populations. These surveys help Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation monitor crop diseases and pests that could impact our region.
What We’re Looking For:
- CANOLA
- Clubroot, Blackleg, Verticillium Stripe & Sclerotinia Stem Rot
- Staff walk fields in a W-pattern, collecting plant samples for lab testing. Biosecurity measures are strictly followed to prevent disease spread.
- WHEAT
- Fusarium Head Blight (FHB)
- 500 wheat heads per field are sampled, dried, and sent for analysis to detect this harmful fungal disease.
- POTATOES
- Bacterial Ring Rot (BRR)
- Fields are inspected twice for signs of BRR, a highly infectious disease. Suspected samples are sent to the lab for confirmation.
- GRASSHOPPERS
- Migratory, Bruner’s, Clearwing, Two Stripe & Packard’s
- Visual counts and sweep net surveys help identify species and lifecycle stages across 75% of MD townships.
All surveys follow strict sanitation protocols outlined in the Alberta Clubroot Management Plan to protect our fields.
If you see our team out and about, give them a wave! They’re working hard to keep our agriculture strong and sustainable.
