I'm currently reading "Empire's Workshop" by Greg Grandin which talks about this at some length. Apparently Ford ignored the advice of local experts to avoid b

I'm currently reading "Empire's Workshop" by Greg Grandin which talks about this at some length. Apparently Ford ignored the advice of local experts to avoid blight by planting the rubber trees sufficiently far apart. Ford instead planted them very closely in neat rows, which created a perfect environment for leaf blight.