Plant Health Section

What is the mission of the Plant Health Section? 

The mission of the Plant Health Section is to safeguard plant resources, promote agricultural sustainability, and protect the economy and environment from plant pests and diseases. Its key responsibilities include, but are not limited to, preventing and controlling plant pests, conducting plant health surveillance and diagnostics, advancing plant health research, preparing for and responding to pest emergencies and outbreaks, and ensuring regulatory compliance while promoting phytosanitary measures.

What services do we deliver?

The Plant Health Section delivers a range of proactive and responsive services to support sustainable agriculture and protect plant resources. These include in-season crop pest prediction and seasonal monitoring with timely action alerts to help producers make informed decisions. The section also promotes on-farm biosecurity through standards and guidelines, while issuing pest alerts for species of potential economic importance. In addition, it maintains the PEI Integrated Pest Management online system to provide accessible, up-to-date information and decision-support tools.

In-Season Crop Pest Prediction Service

What is a Pest CDD Prediction Model?

A pest cumulative degree day (CDD) model is a biological forecasting tool used in agriculture to predict insect growth, development, and the timing of critical life cycle events. 

Insects are cold-blooded, meaning their growth rate is entirely dictated by environmental temperatures rather than the calendar. Instead of tracking time by days or weeks, CDD models track heat accumulation. This predictive service provides growers with early warnings of pest emergence, empowering growers to transition from reactive pest control to proactive management.

How to Read Lifecycle Thresholds?

Every insect species has specific “target numbers” or heat thresholds required to trigger major life events, such as egg-hatching or adult flight. 

By comparing the current season’s real-time CDD accumulation against local historical averages, the dashboard shows exactly how close a specific population is to hitting a critical growth milestone.

Example Model Threshold:

Pest Event: 5% Adult Emergence
Target: 200 CDD
Action: When your local area hits 200CDD, it marks a critical period for management

How to Apply Insights to Field Practices?

The goal of a pest CDD model is to take the guesswork out of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by streamlining the core steps of Monitoring and Decision Making. Instead of relying on rigid, calendar-fixed cover sprays, growers can leverage CDD data to diversify their crop protection strategies:

• Optimize Field Scouting & Monitoring: Field scouting requires significant time and labor. CDD models act as an early-stage forecasting tool, telling you when to start walking the fields to look for early signs of damage. This ensures you capture measurable data at the right moment without wasting resources scouting too early.
• Perfect Treatment Timing: Many modern, eco-friendly pesticides or biological controls target specific, vulnerable life stages. CDD models ensure interventions are applied at peak vulnerability to prevent inputs from degrading before pests arrive, or target pests before they grow too large and develop resistance.
• Predict Multi-Generation Shifts: In unusually warm years, tracking CDD allows you to anticipate whether a pest will manage to squeeze in a surprise partial or full second generation before the fall frost. Anticipating these lifecycle shifts prevents late-season outbreaks and helps protect overall crop yields.

2026 Pest Prediction Results 

• Apple
• Corn
• Potato
• Blueberry
• Horticultural Crops

Seasonal Pest Monitoring & Action Alerts

The Seasonal Pest Monitoring & Action Alerts system serves as a real-time agricultural radar for PEI producers, providing localized, data-driven intelligence throughout the active growing season. The primary objective is to replace guesswork with real-time data, allowing growers to apply crop protection inputs only when and where they are truly needed. When coupled with predictive forecasting models, this systematic monitoring system ensures that field management decisions are aligned with established economic thresholds rather than rigid, calendar-based spraying routines. 

To support this framework, the Plant Health Section conducts routine, Island-wide field monitoring to track the real-time presence and population density of significant agricultural pests. These weekly monitoring updates provide the critical "ground-truth" data necessary for growers to protect crop yields, optimize input costs, and make informed, evidence-based management decisions.

Regular Crop Pest Monitoring Results

APPLE

*data sums five fields. Monitoring start dates very by species

CORN

*data sums five fields. Monitoring start dates very by species

POTATO

*data sums four fields. Monitoring start dates very by species

BLUEBERRY

*data sums five fields. Montoring start dates very by speices

APHID ALERT PROGRAM

The Aphid Alert Program monitors the migration and abundance of major aphid species known to vector viral diseases in potato fields. By providing timely alerts on aphid pressure, the Plant Health Section helps growers manage disease risks and optimize the timing of protective measures

See detailed aphid alert results for the most current date below.

Click Beetle Survey (2026)

The 2026 Click Beetle Survey program supports integrated pest management (IPM) by monitoring adult beetle populations and tracking species distribution across agricultural regions in PEI. The survey provides critical information on pest pressure, population trends, and species composition. This information helps growers and agronomists assess risk, make informed management decisions, and adopt effective strategies to reduce crop damage and economic losses.

Stay tuned for the results.

PEI Integrated Pest Management System

The PEI IPM System promotes a holistic approach to crop health by integrating biological, cultural, chemical and physical tools to manage pests effectively and sustainably. This framework provides growers with comprehensive guidelines and thresholds to minimize economic loss while supporting long-term environmental stewardship.

Farm-Level Biosecurity Standards and Guidelines

The Plant Health Section provides resources and protocols to help producers implement robust biosecurity measures that prevent the introduction and spread of regulated pests and diseases. These guidelines are essential for maintaining the health of individual farms and protecting the overall biosecurity of the Island’s agricultural land.

Additional Links

• National Farm-Level Biosecurity Planning Guide - Proactive Management of Plant Resources - Canada
• National Voluntary Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Grains and Oilseeds Industry - Canada
• National Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for Potato Growers - Canada
• Producer Guide to the National Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for Potato Growers A Guide to Developing Your Farm Biosecurity Plan - Canada
• National Voluntary Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Greenhouse, Nursery and Floriculture Sectors - Canada
  • Greenhouse Vegetable Sector Biosecurity Guide - Canada
  • Nursery Sector Biosecurity Guide - Canada
  • Floriculture Sector Biosecurity Guide - Canada
• Developing Your Biosecurity Plan: The National Voluntary Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Fruit and Tree Nut Industries - Canada

Pest Alert

• Priority Pest Insects to Report  (Atlantic Canada)
• Palmer amaranth: On alert for a major agricultural threat

Contact for Plant Health Support 

Plant Health Officer
PEI Department of Agriculture
P.O. Box 2000, Charlottetown PE
C1A 7N8
Tel: 902-213-2529
Fax: 902-368-4857

Chief Plant Health Officer
PEI Department of Agriculture
P.O. Box 2000, Charlottetown PE
C1A 7N8
Tel: 902-218-2653
Fax: 902-368-4857