Crop Health & Development

Crop Health

Part of our mission is to help you, the potato grower, grow the best quality and quantity crops.  Whether its agronomy, pests or pathogens, we can provide you support to help identify current cropping issues or help in preventing new ones from happening.  With field and research experience in IPM, pathology, agronomy, and access to a diagnostic laboratory, our staff can provide a suite of services and recommendations to our Maine potato producers.

Crop Health Links:

For more information or for help on some of your cropping issues email Andrew Plant or Jake Dyer, or call 207-769-5061.

Crop Development

The focus of the Maine Potato Board Agronomy, Crop, and Variety Development Program is to research and evaluate crops that can be integrated into and improve potato production systems by increasing rotation length and improving overall cropping system profitability. The program also works in conjunction with the University of Maine’s Potato Breeding Program to coordinate field trials of promising new potato varieties and evaluate their performance over a wide range of geographical and managerial conditions.

The Agronomy, Crop, and Variety Development Program offers a wide range of services to the potato growers of Maine. Services include equipment calibration (grain drills, sprayers, and post-harvest applicators), seeding rate and fertility recommendations, alternative crop management and marketing plans, potato bruise assessments, and experimental design and data collection for grower requested projects.

The Agronomy, Crop, and Variety Development Program, through various sources of funding, conducts plot and field scale research on produce, grain, oilseed, pulse, and cover crop production. Project results are distributed to growers via presentations at industry conferences, contacting the Maine Potato Board office.

For more information contact Jake Dyer.