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The land-grant mission at Washington State University drives the institution to produce premier research that benefits the state of Washington and the world beyond. This land-grant mission was one of the factors that persuaded WSU professor and extension plant pathologist, Dr. Lindsey du Toit, to relocate to the United States and pursue a career with WSU.
The research we do looks at diseases that affect vegetable seed crops that are grown in the Pacific Northwest. The reason this is important is we have a very unique climate in the Pacific Northwest. And as a result, we can produce seed of vegetable crops that cannot be grown in many other places in the world. For example, we grow about 80% of the world’s supply of carrot seed in Central Oregon and Central Washington. And about 100% of the U.S. supply of Brussel sprout seed is grown in Western Washington and Western Oregon. So when diseases affect these crops, it has a big impact, a potential impact on the availability of high-quality seed for growers. Which means it impacts the production of those crops that people want to buy in the store. Part of what we do is diagnosis, helping growers figure out what it is that’s affecting their crop. Once we know what the problems are, we then try to determine what the options are for the grower to manage that disease. Western Washington and Western Oregon are the only areas where we can grow spinach seed in the U.S.A. on a commercial scale. Unfortunately, our soils here in Western Washington are quite acidic and there’s a fungus called fusarium that really likes acidic soils. And one – there’s a particular species and strain of this fungus that attacks spinach. It causes the disease called fusarium wilt, and it does very well in our acid soil. So once a grower has planted a spinach seed crop, he or she cannot plant a spinach seed crop again for at least ten, preferably 15 or even longer years after that crop. That means it’s very hard to find ground from year to year and be able to grow spinach every year but on a ten to 15-year rotation. So one of the tests we’ve developed as part of my program to help the spinach seed growers is to look at their soil in the wintertime prior to them deciding where they’re going to put their seed crop. And we test to see how much risk there is for fusarium wilt. And we’ve now tested over 250 fields in the Skagit Valley to identify the level of risk. And growers can then make a decision based on understanding how risky that field is whether they’re willing to plant a spinach seed crop or not. Certainly one of the reasons I came to the U.S. A. in the first place and one of the reasons I was attracted to a job like this is because of the land-grant mission of this institution. I grew up in Africa and when you grow up in an area where you see you don’t have that public institutional support on the same scale. That you do have in a country like this with institutions like Washington State University. I recognize the incredible value that that brought to a profession and to a community. And to be able to be a part of this is really powerful.
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