RSS
News


Home Page > News > U.S. crops wiped out as Irish famine blight becomes epidemic

Blogs


comment on article Make a comment
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

U.S. crops wiped out as Irish famine blight becomes epidemic

Tomatoes and potatoes dying across Northeast from late blight

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, August 10, 2009, 4:54 PM
Updated Monday, August 10, 2009, 5:04 PM

 

Bookmark and Share

A potato leaf affected by late blight
A potato leaf affected by late blight

U.S. crops are being wiped out by the Irish famine blight which is now being called an epidemic in the Northeast.

The destructive fungal disease which was first seen in Rhode Island and New York has now spread to Massachusetts.

The virus, which largely affects tomatoes and potatoes, has become so powerful that the Northeast Organic Farming Association has labeled it an epidemic.

The group called an emergency meeting on Sunday in Massachussetts to discuss farmers’ and gardeners’ concerns about the disease.

It’s theorized that the spread of the destructive “late blight,” the same virus responsible for Ireland’s Great Famine, first showed up in seedlings shipped to megastores around the northeast, including Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot and K-mart.

Home gardeners purchased the infected seeds, and the disease quickly spread to farms in the area.

The stores have since issued a $1 million recall of possibly infected tomato plants.

The famine disease first showed up in crops in Rhode Island, causing the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to warn all growers to be aware of the problem and use fungicides to counter it.

The destructive infection then hit other states such as New York, Ohio and now Massachusetts.

The fungus, Phytophthora infestans, is extremely dangerous because the spores are dispersed by the wind, potentially destroying nearby commercial crops.

Once the spores arrive, there is no way to prevent the spread of the disease.

Farmers lost entire crops to the blight, which has the telltale signs of brown spots on leaves and a white fungus growth under leaves after humid weather.

The “Irish famine” epidemic is especially causing a dilemma for organic growers who cannot use the copper fungicides needed to fight the blight.

Late blight caused the deaths of more than 1 million people in Ireland in the 19th century because it totally destroyed the potato crop. More than 1.5 million Irish emigrated in the worst case of famine seen in Europe.

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Be the first to make a comment.

It may take several minutes for your comment to appear.


Click to learn more from DiscoverIreland.com.
IrishCentral Mobile QR code


Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:
Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password