UMaine News

The website Western Farm Press has a story about the finding by UMaine Cooperative Extension experts of a destructive non-native fruit fly in Maine that could decimate the state’s berry crop. Jim Dill, Extension educator and pest management specialist, and Frank Drummond, an Extension blueberry researcher, were both quoted in the story. Contact: Jessica Bloch, […]

University of Maine Cooperative Extension specialists Anne Lichtenwalner and Lois Berg Stack appeared in a Channel 2 (WLBZ) news report Tuesday on some of the effects of the lack of snow this winter. Stack, an ornamental horticulturist, said the lack of snow exposes plant roots to freezing without a protective blanket of snow on the […]

UMaine Cooperative Extension professor and water and soil quality specialist John Jemison was interviewed for a WCHS-TV report from the 71st Maine Agricultural Show about the future of farming. Jemison, who presented findings of a study done to determine where Maine farmers see their industry headed, said high energy costs and a lack of infrastructure […]

A Kennebec Journal report on additions to the state’s list of genetically engineered seeds grown in Maine included comments from UMaine Cooperative Extension water and soil specialist John Jemison, Jr. Jemison, who serves on the Maine Board of Pesticide Control, headed up the board’s technical advisory committee that looked into two Bt-corn products that have […]

Jim Dill, a UMaine Cooperative Extension pest management specialist, was quoted in a Maine Public Broadcasting Network radio story about an Asian fruit fly which has been found in five monitoring locations in Maine. Dill said the pest could decimate Maine’s $190 million blueberry harvest. Contact: Jessica Bloch, 207-581-3777

Comments by Jim Dill, University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and pest management specialist, are included in a story by Channel 8 (WMTW) in Portland on the discovery of an Asian fruit fly that has recently been identified in Maine. Soft-skinned fruit like blueberries and raspberries, and possibly vegetables, are most at risk regardless of […]

In a story about an Asian fruit fly that has made its way to Maine, the Boston Globe included quotes from UMaine Cooperative Extension blueberry expert David Yarborough. He told the Globe the pest lays its eggs in soft blueberries, which destroys the fruit, and can devastate a berry crop. Contact: Jessica Bloch, 207-581-3777

University of Maine Cooperative Extension blueberry specialist David Yarborough was interviewed for a Bangor Daily News report on a new pest, the spotted-wing Asian fruit fly or Drosophila melanogaster, which has been identified for the first time in Maine. It poses a new threat to Maine cranberry and blueberry crops. Yarborough says growers must consider […]