Northeast organic farmers struggling
Posted on: Friday, 31 July 2009, 13:31 CDT
Organic farmers throughout the Northeastern United States are struggling with a cool summer and an outbreak of a destructive fungus, an expert says.
Northeast Organic Farming Association President Bill Duesing said the fungus rotting away tomato and potato plants in Massachusetts and New England comes at a time when farmers are already trying to muddle through a very wet summer, The Boston Herald reported Friday.
This has been one of the most challenging years organic farmers have faced in the Northeast,
Duesing said.
The fungus outbreak has been particularly hard on organic farms in the region because those sites do not use synthetic fungicides to protect their crops, the Herald said.
Scott Soares, state Department of Agricultural Resources commissioner, said it has not been determined how much of Massachusetts's tomato crop has been lost this year.
Agriculture extension educator Ruth Hazzard of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst told the Herald up to 200 farms could be dealing with the fungus problem at present.
As far as I can tell, it's everywhere,
she said.
Source: United Press International
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