US: Western Massachusetts farmers on the lookout for tomato blight

The blight that ravaged tomato plants in the Pioneer Valley last summer was detected anew in Hadley on Tuesday, putting Western Massachusetts farmers on alert to avoid another disastrous season.

The late blight, a fast-spreading disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s, caused near-total losses in the 2009 growing season for both home and commercial tomato growers when unusually wet and cool weather accelerated the blight to spread quickly.

This summer's humidity and overnight rain showers can sometimes be enough to facilitate the growth of damaging fungi, according to Daniel G. Ziomek, nursery manager at Hadley Garden Center.

The contaminated field, found in Hadley at a Community-Supported Agriculture farm called the Next Barn Over, was plowed under on Tuesday.

"Now we're just hoping it doesn't spread as rapidly as last year," Ziomek said. "Most farmers are pretty careful about scouting their fields these days. If we can keep this to just this one field, we'll be doing all right."