Much of the state's seed potato supply for this year is infected with blight, and the state has asked the federal government for an emergency exemption to make an effective but expensive toxic seed treatment available to growers.
“The time is pretty germane to have it now," said Steve Johnson, a crops specialist with the University of Maine cooperative extension. "The pathogen has been found in seeds, and so the last thing we want to do is start our own epidemic by planting these seeds."
To ward against another severe outbreak of late blight on Maine's potato crop, the Board of Pesticides Control has asked the federal government for an emergency exemption registration for the fungicide Revus, an expensive fungicide that's mildly to highly toxic to different species.