Grant will support potato crop rotation effort
A two-year program to explore crop rotation for potato growers, which those in the industry hope will boost Aroostook County's farming economy, will be funded with a $105,527 grant from the USDA.
A two-year program to explore crop rotation for potato growers, which those in the industry hope will boost Aroostook County’s farming economy, will be funded with a $105,527 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Jake Dyer, an agronomist for the Maine Potato Board, told The County that the grant will help support a project to develop best management practices for pulse and oilseed crops, which include dry peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, sunflowers, flax and canola. Dyer said that the crops, in rotation with potatoes, could help lengthen rotations, reduce system inputs, break insect and disease cycles, and reduce the extent and frequency of tillage. He said research projects conducted from 2013 through 2016 suggest several pulse and oilseed crops can be grown successfully in Maine.
He said the market for such crops in Maine is undeveloped and there’s a lack of best management practices, which might discourage farmers from growing them.
The number of farmers growing sunflowers as a rotation crop has increased over the past two years, according to Dyer, but crops like flax and lentils are rare in the state. “There is an expanding food industry in Maine, so we are always looking at crops we can grow,” added Dyer. “We can grow a lot of different foods here.”
The grant was made under the USDA’s Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
Historically, the amount of Maine acreage devoted to potatoes peaked in the 1940s, though yields continue to rise overall, according to USDA data that goes back to 1872. Maine’s potato crop generated $143 million in sales in 2016, up from $131.5 million a year earlier.
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