An October 27 article in Cornell Alumni Magazine, Rotten Tomatoes – Anatomy of an ag epidemic, chronicles last summer’s late blight outbreak that ravaged tomatoes and potatoes in the Northeast.
An excerpt:
“In mid-August, when Starflower Farm proprietor Andrew Leed ’81, who manages the CALS greenhouses, discovered late blight in the plot where he grows certified organic seed potatoes, he burned the plants to the ground. ‘If blighted tubers survive storage to sprout, the resulting plant could produce spores early in the growing season,’ he says. ‘Because I sell organic seed to organic growers, I didn’t feel comfortable taking chances— organic growers don’t have the chemical tools conventional farmers do.'”
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