A comment from retired UMaine Cooperative Extension veterinarian Michael Opitz is included in a Blue Ridge Now news Web site story looking at issues related to salmonella at egg production facilities owned by Austin “Jack” DeCoster.  Blue Ridge Now covers western North Carolina.

Barbara Murphy from UMaine Cooperative Extension was quoted in a Maine Sunday Telegram story reporting that the 2010 growing season has been a good one for the Plant-a-Row-for-the-Hungry program in Maine.  Murphy credits the favorable growing season and generous nature of Maine’s gardeners.

The website FreshPlaza.com has a report quoting UMaine Cooperative Extension Fruit Specialist Renae Moran about the apple harvest in Maine. Moran said the harvest is down because of an early spring frost.

Contact: Jim Dill, (207) 581-3879; James Dwyer, (207) 764-3361 ORONO — University of Maine Cooperative Extension researchers have received renewed U.S. Department of Agriculture Funding of $432,000 for potato late blight and pest management research and education for 2010. The program is overseen by co-principal investigators Jim Dill, an Extension pest management specialist in Orono, […]

UMaine Cooperative Extension fruit specialist Renae Moran told MPBN the apple harvest is down this fall as much as 50 percent due to frost, but an abundance of warm, sunny weather earlier this summer has produced unusually tasty apples.

Contact: Corie Washow, (207) 353-5550 or 1-800-287-1458, or corie.washow@maine.edu A national program aimed at helping farmers, farm workers and farm family members with chronic health conditions or disabilities continue to farm successfully and live independently is now available in Maine through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Maine AgrAbility, a collaboration between UMaine, Goodwill Industries […]

Tuesday’s Lewiston Sun Journal includes a story featuring comments from Cooperative Extension’s David Fuller, talking about late blight and its impact on Maine potatoes and tomatoes.  Fuller described Extension research into developing blight-resistant varieties of those crops

WLBZ broadcast a Tuesday report about egg testing procedures conducted at UMaine Cooperative Extension’s Animal Health Lab, under the direction of veterinarian Anne Lichtenwalner.  The lab features capabilities to conduct several levels of testing as mandated by state and federal regulations.

Comments from Jim Dill of the UMaine Cooperative Extension faculty are included in a Tuesday Bangor Daily News report on the impact of this summer’s weather on Maine’s insect populations.  Dill says that the number of pests — especially mosquitoes — has been reduced this summer because of the dry and warm weather conditions

Contact: Anne Lichtenwalner, 581-2789 ORONO – Consumers can do their part in protecting themselves from potentially contaminated poultry products, including eggs, by using common sense and sanitary food preparation practices. There also is a lot that can be done by Maine’s thousands of chicken owners. Large commercial henhouses, family farms or even small backyard chicken […]