McCain Foods’ potato nurse crop project aims to boost yields
Always looking to innovate and boost production, potato farmers in Aroostook County are looking to boost yields under a new project by McCain Foods that involves planting potatoes on top of winter rye, barley or oats.
The “nurse crop” project is underway in 10 to 12 spots in The County, Brianne O’Leary, senior field representative for McCain Foods, told the Bangor Daily News.
The planting project is part of the Drive for 45, the newspaper said, which is a potato industry initiative in Maine and New Brunswick aimed at increasing potato yields by 45 hundredweight per acre over several years. That would allow them to compete with growers from western states where yields can be double what they are in the East.
Matt Porter of Porter Farms in Presque Isle told the BDN that he grew winter rye on some of his 900 acres of potatoes, and it went well.
“We planted the crop, and I walked away from it, and when I came back the field was very green,” he told the newspaper. “It was just the data from New Brunswick that really convinced us to give it a try. It just seemed to make sense, and it really fit our farm. If it is a success, it is something we will do again next year.”
The senior field representative for McCain Foods told the newspaper the company will watch to see if yield results continue to be positive. If so, they expect other growers to adopt nurse crops.
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