UMaine News

Renae Moran of the UMaine Cooperative Extension faculty was quoted in a Kennebec Journal report based on a new RSU 11 (Gardiner area) adult education course featuring content for people interested in fruit tree agriculture.  Moran, who helps teach the course, is based at UMaine’s Highmoor Farm in Monmouth.

Barbara Murphy of UMaine Cooperative Extension was featured in a Tuesday WLBZ/WCSH television report about whether it’s advisable or necessary to rake the leaves that fall on lawns during the fall.  She says it’s a matter of personal preference, but that there does not seem to be any real advantage gained from nutrients that might […]

A Working Waterfront story provides analysis of the impact of warmer-than-usual temperatures in the first eight months of 2010 on seabirds and certain marine species.  Rebecca Holberton, UMaine avian biologist and Dana Morse, a marine extension associate in UMaine Cooperative Extension and Maine Sea Grant, are both quoted in the story.  Holberton notes that seabird […]

Comments from UMaine Cooperative Extension veterinarian Ann Lichtenwalner were included in a Saturday Bangor Daily News report about the ways in which Maine officials work to ensure the safety of eggs produced in the state.  Lichtenwalner oversees efforts at UMaine’s Animal Health Laboratory, which is also featured in photos accompanying the story.

UMaine Cooperative Extension tree fruit specialist Renae Moran is the lead resource in a York Weekly story about Maine’s 2010 apple crop.  She says that yield appears to be down, attributable to a May 11 frost that saw temperatures dip into the low 20s.  Southern Maine orchards were hit harder than those in northern Maine.

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.