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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 17 MAINE FARMERS EXCHANGE PO Box 869, Presque Isle, Maine 04769 CALL 207-764-1844 OR 1-800-333-1564 Todd Bradley, Dan Peers, or Todd Duncan Tyler Bradley (Field Specialist) ACCUMULATOR ADIRONDACK BLUE ADIRONDACK RED ALL BLUE ALL RED ANDOVER ATLANTIC BURBANK CARIBOU RUSSET CHIEFTAIN COBBLER COLOMBA COLORADO ROSE DARK RED NORLAND ENVOL EVA FINGERLINGS GREEN MOUNTAIN GOLDRUSH KALMIA KATAHDIN KENNEBEC KEUKA GOLD LA CHIPPER LAMOKA 1) Controlled Air – Humidity Storage 2) Knowledgeable Field Department 3) Best of Crop Rotations 4) Maine Early Generations Program 5) Vigorous Sanitation Requirements 6) Efficient Transportation Service with Excellent Availability LEHIGH MARCY MODOC MONTREAL NADINE NORWIS REBA PIKE RED LASODA RED LASODA (NY STRAIN) RED MARIA RED PONTIAC RUSSET NORKOTAH SATINA SHEPODY SIFRA SILVERTON SNOWDEN SORAYA SUPERIOR VIVALDI WANETA YUKON GEM YUKON GOLD MFX Seed is More Than Just Good Seed 2362-5MaineFarmersExchange13s.indd 1 8/27/19 4:47 PM important. In sports, you often depend on a just a few highly specialized elite players to win the game. It's the same with the cultivars in commercial potato production. But in sports as in a potato crop, you are smart to hedge by having backups ready to take the field quickly if the stars are injured or demands of the game change. Similarly, genebanks keep genetic alternatives "on the bench," and study and groom them so they are fit to be quickly deployed when needed. We need multiple genetic options to address known problems from multiple angles. But we also need general diversity to increase the odds that we will have solutions to unpredictable new problems. ARE YOU ADDRESSING COMMON DISEASES OF POTATO? When new problems arise, we prepare specialized samples and hybrids for testing with cooperators. For the late blight crisis in the early 1990s, we sponsored testing in multiple U.S. states, Mexico, Canada and Russia—finding new sources of resistance in the species Solanum microdontum and Solanum okadae. For zebra chip, we helped screening efforts in Washington State and Texas that identified the species Solanum verrucosum as particularly psyllid-resistant. We are currently coordinating a project to screen germplasm for resistance to Dickeya. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR GROWING AND CROSSING POTATO STOCKS? Genetic information and manipulation is rapidly advancing, and we are looking forward to how that will help us improve genebank technology and service. Of course, as researchers and breeders get these better tools, demand for USPG raw materials will also increase, so we need to be ready. We are looking into how germplasm could improve the feasibility of specialty cultivars, and even potato alternatives to grain in noodles, bread, beer and sweetened breakfast foods. Farming for potato protein extract already has commercial application. It is intriguing to think about how USPG germplasm could be deployed to expand potato into such alternate outlets, increasing the demand, profitability and positive nutritional impact of potato on society. 162809Baicor13s.indd 1 10/25/16 2:58 PM