Potato pest conference a source of useful data

   PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — While the weather outside wasn’t frightful, Jim Dwyer was nervous that last Wednesday’s snow would prevent people from attending the 2014 Potato Pest Management Conference held at the Presque Isle Inn and Convention Center.
As it turns out, he didn’t need to worry as more than 100 people showed up for the annual conference.
“Considering the weather, I would have been happy with 60 people,” said Dwyer, crops specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, which sponsored the daylong event. “To have over 100 is excellent.
“This conference is really targeted toward technical support folks. We do invite growers to it, as well, and the idea is to bring the latest research and technical information to the industry … research from the University of Maine and the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service,” he said, noting that the conference has been going on since the 1960s.
With 15 different presentations, participants received information on aphid populations, spray adjuvants, anti-bruise findings, early season storage management practices, pink rot, late blight, insect control studies, and more.
“We try to get a variety of topics to answer questions that the industry has experienced during the past growing season,” said Dwyer, “and to try to look forward to be proactive to address issues that we feel may be coming.”
Dwyer said many of the attendees were from away.
“We have some folks that are from national companies that are here — Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts — and we have people from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec,” he said. “Considering the weather we’re having today, it’s impressive that people did travel as far as they have to get here.
“Our goal is to have people learn about the latest research and to be able to address issues so that we can continue to produce high-quality potatoes for our markets whether those markets are seed, processing or table,” said Dwyer.
Dr. Steve Johnson, crops specialist for the Extension, discussed potato wart in PEI.
“From 2000-14, there have been eight years when the disease has shown up, and there’s been questions on how it spreads and how quickly it spreads,” he said, noting that potato wart can last in the soil for more than four years. “It’s important to share this information because wart’s not going away. Wart reared its head again this year in PEI, and it’s something that Maine growers need to be aware of and keep an eye on.”
Johnson said the conference is a worthwhile tool to keep the potato industry informed.
“Sometimes the research that’s presented isn’t ready for prime time or to be published,” he said, “but it gives people an idea of where things are going. It helps everyone do their job better. There are people from New Brunswick and Orono that came — despite the weather — so that tells me we’re doing the right thing and providing them with information that they need and are looking for.”
Doug Beaulieu, local branch manager of Crop Production Services, attended his first Potato Pest Management Conference in 1971.
“Over the years I might have missed a half-dozen of them, but I try to attend this one,” he said. “We have University people and research people, and the suppliers and growers get together and it gives us a chance to go over anything that’s new that might be coming down the pike, or anything that might be an old-type product that we’ve had for a long, long time that we found can do something new.
“It’s a great way to share information with a group,” said Beaulieu. “With pesticides, which we’re heavily involved with, we’re all trying to find safer products to use that will also give us better control. Our industry has been changing a lot, and we’re working to make it more profitable and to bring safer, better quality food to the table.”
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension will now turn its attention to hosting the annual Maine Potato Conference, which will be held in January.