PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The PROBUS Club of Aroostook met July 20 at Northern Maine Community College’s Reed Commons with 18 members present.
President Tom Lunn presided. Dana Crory, program chairperson, introduced the special guest, Alan Perry of Presque Isle, who owns Farm Technologies Network.
Perry, a Presque Isle native, is the fifth generation of his family to farm in Maine since his relatives arrived from Ireland in the 1800s. After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maine at Orono.
Following college, Perry said, he farmed for five years, started an interior landscaping company called Plantcrafters, and in 1990 went to work for a large potato and broccoli farming operation in Mars Hill. In 1995, while working there as a produce salesman, he started a company to help Aroostook County potato farmers eliminate problems complicating the sale of Maine potatoes.
Today, with Farm Technologies Network, he is helping farmers all over the world solve agricultural problems. He has traveled to many areas and countries including Ireland, South Africa, Germany and India.
Perry said in 1960, northern Maine had 6,600 farms; in 1995, there were 425 farms and in 2009, 135 farms. Because soil is different in various areas, problem-solving is also different.
PROBUS is an association of retired and semi-retired people who join together in autonomous clubs throughout the world. The club provides regular gatherings of former professionals who, in their retirement, appreciate and value opportunities to meet others in similar circumstances of similar levels of interest.
The group’s next meeting will take place Thursday, Aug. 17, at NMCC.
