In April N.Y. State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker announced a new concerted strategy that will enhance the state’s detection and eradication efforts of late blight, a disease that mainly attacks tomatoes and potatoes. Late blight was the cause of much distress to N.Y. consumers and economic loss to commercial growers in 2009.

Over the past few months, the Dept. of Agriculture & Markets has reviewed the 2009 late blight outbreak, trained its horticultural inspectors how to identify the disease and put in place a strategy to reduce the spread of late blight if it is introduced in New York in 2010. The Department will be surveying plants at the retail level in stores as well as in commercial greenhouses, while Cooperative Extension will follow up with any suspect cases in the field from commercial growers or home gardeners.

From April 1 through June, inspectors will be visiting greenhouses and plant retailers to document sources and inspect plants for disease. The Department is also contacting out-of-state plant distributors and requesting their cooperation in determining where plants are being shipped.

If late blight is detected in tomato or potato crops within the state, the suspect lot of plants will be subject to quarantine upon visual diagnosis by a state inspector. Samples will be analyzed for confirmation. If late blight is confirmed, plants will be disposed of and a trace back and trace forward will be initiated to try to locate other possibly infected plants.