Researchers, apple growers and eight dog teams will collaborate in the project for two years.
– We do a survey among apple growers about what problems they have and every year canker is in first place, says Jan Flemming Jensen, head of cultivation at Kivik’s factory:
– In other countries, pesticides are used, but not in Sweden. So we have to fight it in a different way. We will try that with this project.
Destroy crops
Larisa Gustavsson has been researching fruit tree canker for twelve years and testifies to how the problem has increased every year. The disease is already latent in the plants when they are imported from countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium.
A couple of years after the plants are planted in the ground, the disease can bloom and destroy large parts of the crops.
Dog instructor Marie Koenen will lead the work of training eight dog teams in sniffing out the fungus that spreads the disease. She has previously completed other odd assignments, such as teaching dogs to sniff out the eggs of invasive snails.
The dogs should not only work with the fruit tree canker. They must also be trained to look for voles that cause damage to apple orchards.
