Potatoes beware: The undoubtedly evil golden nematode has taken a liking to Sagaponack's most picturesque of fields. After spreading with incredible stealthiness all the way from Idaho, the state has now descended upon our tranquil farms to smoke out the bastardly bugs. Oddly, there is a healthy amount of objection from potato farmers themselves. Dean Foster, a farmer who toils 270 acres in Sagaponack, claims he harvested '650 hundred-pound bags of potatoes per acre' from his newly fumigated fields last year, and did not see a problem. (You can do that math.) Not so, claims the State, as this is more of a trade issue than a potato one.
Apparently, if we're known to have golden nematode-itis, no one will want our exported tubers. The nematodes have been summering in the Hamptons since 1941, killed off each time they spring into action, only to reemerge decades later more powerful and deadly. This time, methyl bromide is the State's weapon of choice, something that 'has been shown to carry limited health effects on humans'. Oh, good. Our Idahoian counterparts are lucky enough to have other chemicals weapons banned in New York.
· State Attacks Plant Bug in Sagaponack [SH Press]