Scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) are looking to nature to control the disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine.

Late blight affects potatoes, tomatoes and other related crops world wide and has the capacity to vigorously spread and destroy crops.

Dr. Susan Boyetchko says they have started to investigate using naturally-occurring bacteria to fight the disease.

"We screened a number of those through various tests and we found that the leading bacterial strains can provide up to 80 to 90 per cent disease control lasting as long as at least seven days.

Boyetchko notes that it can take over a dozen chemical fungicide applications in one growing season to control the disease.

"We're looking at how to use those bacteria, even integrating them with chemical fungicides. I don't think that we can reduce the use of chemical fungicides but we can reduce the number of chemical fungicide applications and therefore reduce the pesticide load in the environment."

She notes that to ensure safety, the procedures they are using are registered with Health Canada.

In Canada alone, potato production represents an annual market value of $1 billion at the farm gate, and an even larger market value of $5.5 billion to the food processing industry.