ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070027
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Blue mold has destroyed 75 percent of the burley tobacco crop in Southwest Virginia, and much of the potato crop is rotting in Eastern Shore fields because of July's soggy weather.
The blue mold outbreak is as bad as last year and that was the worst since 1979, said Phil Blevins, Washington County extension agent. Blue mold, a fungus that thrives in cool, damp conditions, deforms stalks and chokes off leaf growth.
``I think it's possible some of the larger growers that are fairly heavily leveraged could go under,'' Blevins said Tuesday. Only a few weeks of hot, dry weather can save some farmers, he said.
Grower Jackie Thomas said blue mold is ``everywhere ... from the ground to the top of the stalk,''
``It's terrible. ... When it's 70-75 percent destroyed, I just don't know,'' he said. ``All we can hope for is some hot, dry weather - or if you've got hail insurance, pray for a hail storm.''
On the Eastern Shore, vegetable growers felt the impact of Hurricane Bertha and the wet weather that followed.
Grower and broker Jack Duer of Painter said rain damage is extensive. ``Of the potato crop, 50-75 percent has been hurt - and 25 percent of the soybeans in some areas. It was a good year to grow rice and celery,'' Duer said, noting that one farmer told him it had been so wet his weeds were dying in the standing water.
``It's been devastating for the farmers who can't get their crops out of the field,'' said Jim Stern, who manages the Eastern Shore Farmers' Market in Melfa.
Wholesale buyers from across the United States and Canada are finding vegetable prices up and quantities down, he said.
Stern said the rains have damaged cucumbers, peppers, beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes - almost all of the vegetables grown on the Eastern Shore.
Jerry Stenger, assistant state climatologist, said normal rainfall for July on the Eastern Shore is 4.29 inches. Painter, in southern Accomack County, recorded 14.37 inches, the third-highest monthly total in 40 years. Some areas may have had more because of localized thunderstorms.
But the rain was badly needed in Southside Virginia where flue-cured tobacco is grown, said Virginia Tech extension specialist David Reed. ``The weather we've had in the last few weeks has made us millions of dollars.''
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB