CARIBOU, Maine — The Maine Potato Conference and Trade Show will take place Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 20 and 21, at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center. Registration is now open.
A variety of workshop sessions will be featured, covering agricultural topics ranging from pest management to fertilizer to improving soil health. In addition, the Central Aroostook Young Farmers hospitality room will be in the trade show area.
Wednesday morning will feature the following topics and presenters: Dikeya with Dr. Steve Johnson, University of Maine Cooperative Extension crops specialist; aphids and viruses, Jim Dwyer, UMCE crops specialist; aphid studies and Potato Virus Y hosts, Aaron Buzza, assistant scientist, UMaine; aphids and PVY management, Dr. Andrei Alyokhin, University of Maine entomologist; soil erosion, Seth Jones, National Resource Conservation Service district conservationist; winter cover, Sam Wright, NRCS soil conservationist; tillage management, Dr. Lakesh Sharma, UMCE soil and crops specialist; and the U.S. Potato Board with David Fraser, vice president, and Jay LaJoie and Keith Doyen of USPB industry and communications.
Wednesday afternoon’s sessions will include the economy of rotational crops, Aaron Hoshide, School of Economics faculty; alternative crops, Jake Dyer, agronomist with the Maine Potato Board; Pesticides Control Board update, Megan Patterson of the Maine BPC; wood ash nutrients, Bruce Hoskins, soil scientist at the Maine Soil Testing Laboratory; what’s new in fertilizer, Sharma; and soil health and emerging technologies, Brianne O’Leary, Gilles Moreau and Sam DeLano, all of McCain Foods.
Thursday morning will feature another Dikeya session with Johnson; controlling soilborne diseases, Dr. Jay Hao, plant pathologist at UMaine; marketing assistance loans, Don Todd and Amanda May with the Farm Service Agency; biofumigation and rotational crops, Dr. John Jemison, UMCE soil and water quality specialist; industrial hemp production, Jemison; injury prevention, Paul Marquis, physical therapist at County Physical Therapy; storage management, Steve Belyea, storage engineer with the MPB/Potato Marketing Improvement Fund; and chlorpropham use, John Walsh, McCain storage specialist.
Thursday afternoon topics will be alternative energy with County Energy Solutions; the Rural Energy for America Program with USDA Rural Development; grain quality, Andrew Plant, UMCE educator; potato variety trials, Dr. Greg Porter, UMaine agronomist; pest pathways into Maine, Terry Bourgoin, USDA and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; an update from the MPT with Don Flannery, executive director, and Tim Hobbs, grower relations; and Florida test results, Eric Hitchcock, seed potato specialist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
For information or to register, visit the UMCE website.
