December 2021 - 26

MAINE
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along and get to where we are today. "
Andrew Plant is the plant pathologist
and lab manager, while Jake Dyer, who
joined the team in 2015, is in charge of
agronomy and variety development.
The majority of mini-tubers are
planted at the farm, which eventually
becomes a late-generation seed
for other seed growers or sold to
commercial growers. The mini-tubers
that are sold are mostly to what
Flannery describes as " the garden
trade, " i.e., home gardeners and small
operations, which includes mostly older
varieties that aren't widely grown as
they used to be, such as Yukon Gold,
Katahdin or Kennebec.
The majority of Maine seed potatoes
wind up in the processing sector, so
the industry standards, such as Russet
Burbank, are grown at Porter Seed
Farm. The operation also is proactive in
getting newer varieties into production
by working closely with the University
of Maine's potato breeding and variety
development program, which is led by
Greg Porter of the University of Maine.
" (Porter has) stuff going from the
initial cross (breeding) all the way up to
advanced material that may have seven
years in the ground, if not longer, " Dyer
said. " He's constantly evaluating new
material.
Potato plants within a few weeks of harvest in 2019. Summers have been unusually dry in Aroostook County the past few growing
seasons, but the 2020 year was the driest on record, which hurt yields and could hinder the seed supply in coming years.
" It's been a good relationship.
There is a lot of promising material
in Greg's pipeline. "
Once a variety shows five to six
years of promising results, the seed
farm will clean some tissue culture
from Porter's lab to begin mini-tuber
production for commercial tests. A
recent success story is the Caribou
russet, which became one of the 20
most-grown seed varieties in the U.S.
in 2020.
Maine's past three growing seasons
have been especially dry, but the
2020 season was the driest on record.
Some areas of Aroostook County,
where most of the state's potatoes are
grown, received as little as 2 inches
of rain between Memorial Day and
harvest time in mid-September,
Flannery said. Total Maine potato
production was down 20% from a
year ago.
Only about 25-30% of potatoes
in Aroostook County are irrigated,
which has state growers looking for
ways to get water to mitigate such
drought impact in the future.
" I think there will be a combination
of investment in irrigation equipment
and water sources are going to be at
the forefront of most growers' minds
this year, " Dyer said. " For the past
several years, growers have worked to
diversify their rotations and get them
out there longer to focus on green
manures and trying to build soil
organic matter, and I see that trend
continuing. "
The board is continually looking
for new varieties, but also for ways to
farm more efficiently.
" For example, we just got done
building a pond for irrigation water, "
Flannery said. " We're hoping to
never have to turn a pump on, but
we do have to manage that risk.
When that early-generation seed
supply isn't what it should be, it has
a tremendous impact on the industry
for three or four years. " VGN
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December 2021

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