神秘的作物損害威脅數百畝

神秘的作物損害威脅數百畝
Mystery Crop Damage Threatens Hundreds Of Acres
Shaun Chaiyabhat
6:21 PM CDT, June 1, 2010

快速的事實：
FAST FACTS:

Small dots appear to "burn" through leaves
Area affected is along Tipton and Shelby County line
Farmers afraid they may lose their entire crop
小點出現去“燒”透樹葉子
受影響的地區是沿著蒂普頓和謝爾比縣線
農民害怕他們可能會失去他們的整個作物

（萬菲斯市 2010年6月1日）一單神秘開展橫過中南農場。
(Memphis 6/1/2010) A mystery is unfolding across MidSouth farms.

Something is killing crops, trees, even weeds and nobody can explain why.
一些東西在殺害莊稼、樹木、甚至雜草和沒有人能解釋為什麼。
Farmers are scratching their heads and some are worried their crops may be lost to the mysterious plague.
農民們正在抓頭，有些擔心他們的作物可能會失去給神秘的瘟疫。
It's happening along a large swath of land near the Shelby and Tipton county border along Herring Hill Road and elsewhere near the Mississippi River bottoms.
它正發生在近謝爾比和蒂普頓縣邊境沿著的大片土地，沿赫林路連山道及近密西西比河底部的其它地方。

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Tiny dots appear to have burned onto leaves of all types of plants, and they appear different depending on the plant.

On corn stalks, the dots seem to turn white in the center.

On other plants, a white dust speckles the leaves and then destroys the green life underneath.

"We found it all in the herbs, in the flowers, in the plum tree, in the weeds," said organic farmer Toni Holt. "It's apparently in everything."

Holt grows organic produce that she sells at area farmers' markets.

As she and other farmers inspect the new growth covered in the perplexing plague, they fear their entire crop may be lost.

Less than ten miles from Holt's crops, the damage could possibly hit hundreds of acres of corn at Wilder Farms.

It appears to have hit everything in its path.

There does not seem to be anything in common with the affected plants.

The Holts raise organic crops, so they don't spray pesticides on any of their fruits and vegetables.

The first thought among some was a new parasite or insect caused the damage, but Wilder farms sprays pesticides and the damage there is exactly the same.

Farmers first noticed the damaging dots over the weekend.

Then Holt came home to find baby birds dead in their nests.

"There are two dead birds hanging out of two different bird houses, so we're concerned about that. We don't know if it's related, but it's alarming," said Holt. "We've got horses, we're concerned about the horses on the grass. We've got chickens. We sell our eggs at the market."

Farmers we spoke with are convinced something in the air caused this damage.

They're asking the USDA and other experts to look into the problem, and so are we.
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