The Maine Potato Summit will be held on January 15, 2025 at the Smith Wellness Center at Northern Maine Community College located at 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle, ME 04769. This is our 3rd year taking this conference over and we are going to try a different format this year to see if it will work better for everyone’s busy schedule.
**6 Pesticide Recertification Credits available for the day**
We have a great day planned with new innovation talks as well as local crop product updates. Also, don’t miss our social event to wrap up the day with a free cocktails and food! The reception will be a great opportunity to connect with our great group of vendors to speak more on their products as well as other industry representatives and fellow growers.
Register today: https://forms.gle/oS8SKAYUWFGJ5TkX6
As always, the event is free for Maine growers and their staff!
2025 Schedule:
| Time | General Session |
| 8:00 AM | Registration |
| 8:00 am – 8:30 am | Breakfast sponsored by CaroVail/Carolina Eastern |
| 8:30 – 9:30 am | Steve Li- Auburn University, UAV spraying- Steve will discuss the basics of crop spraying using UAVs. |
| 9:30 – 10:00 am | Andrei Alyokhin- University of Maine, Potato entomology. Andrei will discuss economic impact levels of different insects on potatoes and the amount of damage potato plants can incur before yield impacts are observed |
| 10:00 – 10:30 am | Morning Break |
| 10:30 – 11:30 am | Bryan Hammis- Michigan Operator, UAV Potato Spraying. Bryan will discuss spraying with UAVs specifically on potatoes. |
| 11:30 – 12 pm | Han Tan- University of Maine, UAVs for pest detection. Han will speak on research he is helping conduct on utilizing UAVs to determine disease and insect presence in potatoes. |
| 12 – 1 pm | Lunch sponsored by Bluefield Seeding Solutions |
| 1 – 1:30 pm | Panel (Hammis, Li, Active Intelligence, MBPC)- The panel will discuss and answer questions on the use of UAVs for pesticide applications in potatoes. |
| 1:30 – 2pm | Mario Andrade- University of Maine, Potato Breeding Update. Mario will discuss the latest breeding efforts from UMaine. |
| 2 – 2:20 pm | Mike Wenkel- National Potato Council, National Potato Industry Update. |
| 2:20 – 2:50 pm | Afternoon Break |
| 2:50 – 3:10 pm | Syngenta Update- Latest insecticide product and update |
| 3:10 – 3:30 pm | Techmark Update- Latest storage technology for disease management. |
| 3:30 – 3:50 pm | BioSafe Systems Update- Latest product updates. |
| 3:50 – 4:10 pm | Agri-Cal Update- Latest product updates. |
| 4:15 pm – 6 pm | Reception sponsored by Farm Credit East |