Scientists Are Fighting For The Stricken Pickle Against This Tricky Disease

The pickle is in peril. Each summer since the mid 2000s, Florida winds carry downy mildew to cucumber fields north. By summer's end, the disease reaches Michigan, leaving a trail of withered leaves and thwarted pickling plans.

With failed harvests, fewer growers are taking a chance on cucumbers. According to USDA records, pickling cucumber acreage declined nearly 25 percent between 2004 and 2015. Globally, downy mildew threatens fields as far flung as India, Israel, Mexico and China.

"This is the number one threat to the pickle industry," says vegetable pathologist Lina Quesada-Ocampo of North Carolina State University. The growers, she says, lose money on failed crops and pricey fungicides. "It is a really bad double whammy."

Fortunately for pickle lovers, vegetable breeder Michael Mazourek of Cornell University is close to releasing varieties that resist downy mildew. "It's been one of our proudest David and Goliath stories," he says. But his success hinges on funding at a time when public support of agricultural research is declining.

The story of saving the pickle, then, is not just about preserving the deli sandwich's sidekick. It's a story of how much