About a month ago, I wrote about rain: how hard June has been for our upstate farmers, whose crops are drowning in the fields. Now a plague of a different sort has struck, borne in our second month of humid air: tomato blight.
Blights are fungal diseases. Fungi are fascinating: without the independent ability to photosynthesize, they rely on live host plants for food. After a brief life cycle, they spore, sending progeny through moist air (or by careless human hands) from one site to the next. Like illness, like seeds, they can't live everywhere--but the one that's stuck New York is happy to move from potatoes to tomatoes. The infected crops have to be destroyed, as composting them with other plants risk keeping the spores alive.
Late blight, which usually doesn't strike (if at all) until the end of August, has made an early and widespread attack this year--thanks to a few small outbreaks quickly spread by the wet weather of the past seven weeks. What that means for our farmers is that not only are they losing their money-making fruits (tomatoes), but we're at risk of losing a staple over-wintering crop, as well. Without potatoes, a winter market becomes squash, garlic and hoop-house greens, and potatoes often keep better than squash.
On a personal note, the three worlds of farming I inhabit have been affected, as well. First, Keith Stewart, the first New York farmer I apprenticed with, had to toss his crops. Then, Kira Kenney of Evolutionary Organics had to burn her whole field of potatoes. If any infected spuds were left, the spring growth of unfound tubers might still carry the fungus (which, remember, will stay alive as long as it has something to feed on). To prevent it from spreading further, these organic farmers could use copper--the metal makes a barrier that stops the spores from infecting foliage. But it's only as effective as it stays on the plants, and if it rains, that's another application (and more money) down the drain.
Meanwhile, late blight had also hit close to home at the Botanical Gardens. What's interesting to note is that the two sites where I work--and raised my tomatoes from seed in relative isolation from these affected areas--are blight-free. Both Rooftop Farms and the Howell Family Garden are unaffected. Knock on wood (and cross your fingers), we'll stay clear for the next six weeks.
I'm posting on this because now, more than ever, it's important to buy local. Please--match your diet to what's available, and buy local chard, cucumbers--whatever is in stock. Tomatoes make up a large chunk of an organic farmer's income, and the loss is surely going to be felt if we turn away from them as consumers.
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