Spudman July/August 2023 - 10

certain microbes in the compost or manures that are having
more effect than others? "
The NIFA funds, which became available June 1, will help
answer those questions.
PROOF IN THE SOIL
Mark Otto, owner of Agri-Business Consultants in
Lansing, Michigan, has helped clients overcome challenges
inherent in growing potatoes for decades. He's worked
with four generations of nematologists at Michigan State,
including Quintanilla.
Soil health is a key defense for crops and a focus of Otto's
efforts.
" I've got clients that use applications of a compost blend on
100% of their acreage, " he said. " Growing potatoes with the
amount of tillage that we do is hard on soil, so it's something
we have to work hard at managing. "
Otto said most of the growers he works with use low rates
of compost, as they don't have animals on their farms and
can't afford tons of manure and compost.
" What we're doing has a priming effect, but under the right
conditions, we can see big responses, where you get through
a problem because you've got better nutrient retention
capability, " he said. " If we get a big rain after about the first of
August and leach out nitrogen, we can't add back nitrogen,
so we can lose a lot of yield. When you get those kinds of
environmental conditions, that's where these compost blends
Doctoral student Luisa Parrado helped author the project
proposal for the NIFA grant. Photo courtesy of MSU.
pay off more than normal. I'm convinced that we see anywhere
from a 10% to 15% yield bump with what we're doing. "
Casey Carr, agronomist at Sackett Potatoes in Mecosta,
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Michigan, has also noticed benefits, including reduced nematode
pressure, since the farm discontinued fumigation in 2015 in
favor of reduced tillage, compost usage and cover crop rotation.
" We have a more vigorous crop, a more vigorous root system,
and the plants stay healthy longer for more of the growing
season than in the past, " she said. " Plant pathogens and
plant parasites thrive in unhealthy soil, and we think what is
happening is that we've improved our soil health over time. "
The change was made because the cost of fumigation had
begun to outweigh the benefits, Carr said. The farm last
fumigated in 2014.
" The benefits of crop rotation and cover cropping and
compost are not immediate, " she said. " It was a challenge to
work through those first few years. We had to be really patient. "
Sackett samples for nematodes in the fall, in the spring and
twice in the summer, Carr said. Fields with less soil resilience
have not seen a noticeable drop in nematodes, she said,
and are a work in progress - and indicative of the constant
vigilance needed to fight potato early die complex.
" Verticillium, which is one piece of the potato early die
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10
Spudman * July/August 2023
complex, comes in on feed, and you establish it in your soil
after growing crop after crop of potatoes, " she said. " There's
potato early die risk involved if you plant potatoes. The risk is
always there. "
Quintanilla hopes that her lab's research can arm growers
to better manage that risk.
" We are trying to understand the dosages that are needed,
the exact compost that we need to use, the compost and
manures that are the most beneficial, the microorganisms that
are most affected, (and) how can we increase these numbers of
the most beneficial microorganisms, " she said. " Our objective
is to increase sustainability so that you can reduce some pests
and diseases, reduce some chemical control, reduce some of
the cost to the grower and increase the sustainability so that a
field can be productive and suppress some of these pests and
diseases for longer. "
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Spudman July/August 2023

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