The University of Maine Cooperative Extension says late blight sightings have been confirmed over the last month throughout Aroostook County and the Midcoast areas. Meanwhile, the Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association has received reports...

Given that world potato production is about 320 million tons per year (20 million tons per year in the United States) and world tomato production is about 120 million tons per year (13 million tons per year in the U.S.), late blight is a major problem worldwide even today.

Storage conditions can be ripe for diseases to develop and devastate potato crops, leading many universities to seek ways to control or prevent diseases before they become a problem. At the University of Maine (UM) a fungicide testing program looks at...

Farmers in southern and central Maine have already reported cases of late blight in potato and tomato crops. Now the disease has spread to northern Maine.

Maine potato growers are thriving thanks to a late blight spraying advice offered by the University of Maine's cooperative extension program.

A project at the University of Maine to produce new varieties of potatoes that can stand up to disease while giving Maine growers new marketing opportunities recently received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At Penn State, thousands of potato varieties from around the globe are put through extensive cross-breeding programs, genetic research and intercollegiate collaborations.

A consortium hoping to make plastics from Maine potatoes has received more than $650,000 to further develop the proposal.