1505

Badger Common’Tater

May 2015

THE VOICE OF THE WISCONSIN POTATO & VEGETABLE INDUSTRY

Vegetable Issue

Volume 67 Number 5 $18.00/year $1.50/copy

RAISING THE BAR ‘Chippewa Quality’ Is Premium Plus!

INTERVIEW: Andy Wallendal on Vegetable Crops VEGETABLE CROP RANKINGS Wisconsin Still Strong!

LPRCP UPDATE Village of Plover Participation

Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc.

Photo by Bob Brown

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WPVGA Associate Division 15th Annual Golf Outing & Barbeque

WPVGA Associate Division

Bull's Eye Country Club Wisconsin Rapids, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 We Golf Rain Or Shine!

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: June 26, 2015

The WPVGA Associate Division will host the 15th Annual Golf Outing at the Bull's Eye Country Club in Wisconsin Rapids. The golf outing is followed by a splendid dinner barbeque and raffle prizes drawings.

The golf format is a four-person scramble with a shotgun start limited to the first 36 foursomes and sign up is a first-come basis, so sign up soon! Don’t miss out! The scramble begins at 11:00 a.m. registration is at 10:30 a.m. Cost is $75/person which includes 18 holes of golf with cart. Proper golf etiquette is expected.

Lunch is available for all golfers that day courtesy of an associate sponsor. The dinner barbeque is held immediately following golf and is open to everyone in the industry whether you choose to golf or not.

Tickets are required. ‘Barbeque only’ ticket price is $15/person.

Make checks payable to WPVGA. Please contact Julie Braun, 715-6237683, if you have any questions.

You can sponsor a hole for a minimum $200 donation in cash or prizes. Call Julie Braun, 715-623-7683, for more details.

GRAB ATTENTION! SIGN UP TO BE A SPONSOR Dinner & Door Prize Sponsor Platinum Level Gold Level Silver Level Lunch Sponsor Sponsor A Hole Donate Prizes Call Julie Braun at 715-623-7683 for more details.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: June 26, 2015

✁ ❑ Yes! I will golf. I am registering ______ golfers.

Group Leader Name: _____________________________

(Fee for golf only is $75 per person. This does not include barbeque.)

Company Name: _________________________________

❑ I wish to order _______ Barbeque Tickets at $15.00 per ticket.

Address: ________________________________________ City, State, Zip: __________________________________

❑ I would like to sponsor a hole at the golf outing.

My donation of $_________ is enclosed.

Phone: __________________________________________ These are the people in my group: 1. ______________________________________________

Golf Fee: Number of Golfers x $75

$_________

Barbeque Tickets: Number of Tickets x $15

$_________

+ Hole Sponsor/Donation

$_________

Total Amount Enclosed:

2. ______________________________________________

$_________

Please return completed form and payment to: WPVGA • P.O. Box 327 • Antigo, WI 54409-0327

3. ______________________________________________

Badger Common'Tater

On the Cover: Bob Brown, photographer and husband of Cindy Brown, one of the owners of Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc. shoots many of the company’s action photos like this one capturing the specialized combine required for harvesting kidney beans.

18 L PRCP VISION CONTINUES

Village of Plover Participation

McDill Pond, Stevens Point.

Photo by Emily Hild, Stevens Point

Departments: ALI’S KITCHEN.................... 58 AUXILIARY NEWS............... 57 GROUNDED ......................... 6 MARK YOUR CALENDAR ..... 6

8 COMMON’TATER

20 vegetable crop

Andy Wallendal

Wisconsin Still Strong

INTERVIEW:

ranking

33 RAISING THE BAR ‘Chippewa Quality’ Is Premium Plus!

Feature Articles:

15 BADGER BEAT: Central Sands & International Year of Soils

MARKETPLACE .................. 55 NEW PRODUCTS ............... 52 NOW FOR THE NEWS ....... 48 NPC NEWS .........................41 PEOPLE ............................. 30 POTATO BOARD NEWS ..... 44

28 IMAGERY Life & Death of a Potato Field

SEED PIECE ........................ 43

26 NEW FIELDNET® PIVOT CONTROL Upgrade Nearly Any Brand Pivot

TATER BIN.......................... 60

42 WPC KEYNOTE ADDRESS CIP Director General to Deliver Timely Message

WPIB FOCUS ..................... 44

4

BC�T May

MARTENS POTATO & GRAIN FARM DISPERSAL Thursday, 6/25/15, 9:00 AM (EST) 1323 Towpath Rd, Port Byron, NY 5 miles off I-90 The most premium quality equipment you will ever see at public auction! Having sold the Martens Farm itself, we are now privileged to sell their equipment at absolute public auction. Martens Farm is well-known for utmost care, management and maintenance of equipment.

EQUIPMENT & VEHICLES TO BE AUCTIONED: ( 7 )Tractors & Heavy Equipment (20) Light & Heavy Trucks (60) Grading & Packing Equipment (20) Tillage Equipment 20 (25) Spraying, Mowing Water Moving & Grain Drying Equipment (200) Miscellaneous Support Equipment

Watch our website for photos as auction nears: www.hilltopauctioncompany.com Live online bidding by www.equipmentfacts.com Questions? Call Farm Manager, Dave Hickey: 315-406-2992

SPECIALIZING IN AGRICULTURE & CONSTRUCTION PUBLIC AUCTIONS AUCTIONEER: Jay Martin • Clyde, NY 14433 • (315) 521-3123 Elmer Zeiset • Savannah, NY 13146 • (315) 729-8030

WPVGA Board of Directors: President: Andy Wallendal Vice President: Mark Finnessy Secretary: Eric Schroeder Treasurer: Josh Mattek Directors: Larry Alsum, Steve Diercks, Ron Krueger, Jeremie Pavelski, Gary Wysocki Wisconsin Potato Industry Board: President: Heidi Alsum-Randall Vice President: Cliff Gagas Secretary: Bill Wysocki Treasurer: Keith Wolter Directors: John Bobek, Don Isherwood, John T. Schroeder, Tom Wild and Dennis Zeloski WPVGA Associate Division Board of Directors: President: Chris Brooks Vice President: Wayne Solinsky

Secretary: Steve Bohm Treasurer: Zach Mykisen Directors: Butch Fencil, Cathy Schommer, Sally Surprise, Joel Zalewski Wisconsin Seed Potato Improvement Association Board of Directors: President: Ron Krueger Vice President: Eric Schroeder Secretary/Treasurer: Dan Kakes Directors: Bill Guenthner, Charlie Mattek

WPVGA Staff Executive Director: Tamas Houlihan Managing Editor/Communications Director: Ruth Faivre Director of Promotions & Consumer Education: Dana Rady Financial Officer: Karen Rasmussen Executive Assistant: Julie Braun Program Assistant: Danielle Sorano Spudmobile Coordinator: Jim Zdroik

Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary Board of Directors: President: Jacquie Wille Vice President: Paula Houlihan Secretary/Treasurer: Sheila Rine Directors: Ali Carter, Gabrielle Okray Eck, Patty Hafner, Lynn Isherwood

WPVGA Office (715) 623-7683 • FAX: (715) 623-3176 E-mail Address: wpvga@wisconsinpotatoes.com Website: www.wisconsinpotatoes.com

Mission Statement of the WPVGA: “To assist WPVGA members to be successful through education, information, environmentally sound research, promotion, governmental action, and involvement.”

Mission Statement of the WPVGA Associate Division: “Our mission is to work in partnership with the WPVGA as product and service providers to promote mutual industry viability by integrating technology and information resources.”

Badger Common’Tater is published monthly at 700 Fifth Avenue, Antigo, Wisconsin 54409.

Subscription rates: $1.50/copy, $18.00/year; $30/2 years. Foreign; $30/year; $50/2 years.

Telephone: (715) 623-7683. Mailing address: P.O. Box 327, Antigo, Wisconsin 54409.

ADVERTISING: To advertise your service or product in this magazine, call (715) 623-7683, or write: Advertising Manager, Badger Common’Tater, P.O. Box 327, Antigo, Wisconsin 54409.

The editor welcomes manuscripts and pictures but accepts no responsibility for such material while in our hands.

BC�T May

5

Mark Your

Calendar JUNE 6 WALK WISCONSIN

Pfiffner Park, Stevens Point, WI

Julie Braun 715-623-7683 8-10 UNITED FRESH 2015

McCormick Place, Chicago, IL

202-303-3400, www.unitedfresh.org 12 SPUD SEED CLASSIC GOLF TOURNAMENT

Maplewood Golf Course, Pickerel, WI www.maplewoodgolfcourse.com 20 FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN Noel Hangar, Stevens Point, WI

Contact: WPVGA (715) 623-7683

JULY 8 WPVGA ASSOCIATE DIVISION

PUTT-TATO OPEN

Bullseye Country Club, WI Rapids, WI 8-10 2015 NPC SUMMER MEETING Hilton Garden Inn, Kalispell, MT 14 MINNESOTA Area II Field Day Sand Plains Research Farm, Becker, MN

15 HANCOCK FIELD DAY Hancock Ag Research Station, Hancock, WI

17 RHINELANDER STATE FARM FIELD DAY Rhinelander, WI 19–23 PAA 2015 ANNUAL MEETING Portland, ME, www.paaannualmeeting.org

24-26 PMA'S FOODSERVICE CONFERENCE

& EXPO

Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA 25 ALMOND TATER TOOT

Almond, Wisconsin 28-30 WORLD POTATO CONGRESS

Beijing, China, 902-368-8885 www.potatocongress.org

AUGUST 8 ANTIGO TATER TROT Antigo City Park, Antigo , WI

www.antigotatertrot.com 6-16 WISCONSIN STATE FAIR

State Fair Park, West Allis, WI www.wistatefair.com 11-13 2015 EMPIRE FARM DAYS Seneca Falls, NY 11-15 2015 USPB SUMMER MEETING

CanadInn/Grand Forks, ND 19 NATIONAL POTATO DAY 25-27 2015 WI FARM TECHNOLOGY DAYS

Dane County Statz Bros. Inc. Farm Sun Prairie, WI 6

BC�T May

Grounded Champions

of agriculture. That is what our industry needs from all of us. We need to step out of our comfort zones and take a proactive stance on promoting and defending the agriculture world.

Two people I write about this issue, Andy Wallendal of Wallendal Supply, Inc. and Cindy Brown of Chippewa Valley Bean Company, Co., Inc. are staunch Ag industry ‘cheerleaders’, supporting through local, regional, state and national levels. They both make their voices heard, loud and clear.

Wallendal has a saying that should strike a chord in all of us, “I am an active environmentalist, not an environmental activist!”

There are plenty of people today who beat their chests and make a lot of noise, but when push comes to shove, they do not sit down at the table to work together towards a solution for whatever irks them at the moment.

That is why I am so honored to have the opportunity to work with so many of the grower members who are openly developing solutions to the water situation we face in Portage County and throughout Wisconsin.

I truly believe that the little Plover River Conservation Project, which I write about again this issue, will serve as a model for many such projects for years because it involves all stakeholders in the process.

Please feel free to email me with your thoughts and any questions.

Meanwhile, reach out and get involved! Tell our story strong and true before someone else does the reverse.

Ruth Faivre

Managing Editor rfaivre@wisconsinpotatoes.com

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Interview Andy Wallendal

By Ruth Faivre, Managing Editor Name: Andy Wallendal Title: President Company: Wallendal Supply Inc. Crops Grown/ Acreage: 4,200 irrigated, dryland/woodlands acres total with 3,100 acres farmed as follows: 350 acres snap beans, 150 acres sweet corn, 65 acres red kidney beans, 30 acres alfalfa, 500 acres food-grade soybeans, 300 acres seed soybeans, 800 acres rented for potatoes, 800 acres forage crops.

Location: Grand Marsh, WI Hometown: Adams-Friendship, WI Current City: Mauston, WI Years in Current Position: 34 Previous Employment: Lifetime employment-Wallendal Supply Inc. Schooling: BA Degree in Agribusiness Management, St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI (1981); Graduate of AdamsFriendship High School (1976) Activities/Organizations: Currently WPVGA Board President, previously served as Wisconsin Potato Industry Board President and Director; Healthy Grown Executive Board Member; WPVGA Process-Frozen Committee Member.

Awards/Honors: 003 USDA CSREES Environmental Award for Excellence (Healthy Grown); 1997 WPVGA Young Grower of the Year Award; 1997 National Potato Council’s Environmental Stewardship Award; 1996 NPC/EPA first annual Environmental Stewardship Award; several Golden Grower, Bruise Free and Top Grower Awards from OreIda Foods, Inc. and McCain Foods USA. Family: Wife, Paula; Daughters, Laura (owns a tech startup business in Boston, MA) and Emily (lives in Finland, her husband’s country of birth and is involved in sustainable corporate environmental management). Our beautiful and spirited daughter, Teresa, passed away in 2005 at the age of 17 after a determined and courageous struggle with leukemia.

Hobbies: Kayaking, Fishing, Traveling, Hunting 8

BC�T May

The perfect spokesperson

for discussing alternate crops, Andy Wallendal, President of Wallendal Supply, Inc., a large, second generation vegetable farm in Grand Marsh, WI, has grown an astounding range of vegetables and other crops such as snap beans, sweet corn, peas, red kidney beans, alfalfa, food-grade soybeans for seed, potatoes, lima beans and cabbage over the years.

Wallendal Supply Inc. has not grown potatoes for several years, yet Wallendal was recently elected President of the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA), which is a testimony to his farming practices and service to the agriculture industry.

Other than food-grade soybeans, Wallendal’s crops are primarily raised for processors’ contracts and wind up as canned, frozen products.

According to Wallendal, “Contract specifications for processed foods usually require high quality; standard sizes; uniformity of taste, appearance and nutritive values. Stepped plantings of a number of varieties with varying maturity dates ensure a constant supply of raw material so the processing plant can operate with an even flow of input over a long period.”

As a second-generation grower, what did you learn from your father that helped you in your operation today and what are some of the things you do differently that you believe contributed to your operation’s success today?

My father, Pete Wallendal, discovered the importance of sandy and loamy soils for vegetable production and could not have chosen a better place to grow vegetables than the Central Sands region.

I grew up in our farming operation where my father taught me the importance of a sound fertility program to maintain productivity. Producing abundant harvests hinges on soil nutrients available immediately as well as throughout the growing process.

Above: The Wallendal Supply, Inc. team is shown with a portion of their green and red tractor lineup.

Front row (left to right): Andy Wallendal, Chad Kosler, (John Wallendal’s son-in-law), Eric Wallendal (John Wallendal’s son and Andy’s nephew), John Wallendal (Andy’s brother) and on top of the tractor tire, Megan Wallendal (Eric Wallendal’s wife). Photo by Ruth Faivre.

Along the way, I began to more fully understand the factors affecting the rate of nutrient release such as microbial action and soil temperature, moisture and aeration as well as how to control soil fertility.

Most importantly, I learned the importance of carefully planned planting operations and preparation of the seedbed, a key element for grain crops and doubly important for vegetables.

A strong believer in soil management and conservation, he passed this knowledge onto me. Our operation continued on pg. 10

Wallendal Supply, Inc. headquarters in Grand Marsh, WI.

Dr. Amy Charkowski poses in front of the Wisconsin Certified Seed Potatoes booth at the 2015 Wisconsin Seed Potato Improvement Association Annual Meeting in Antigo.

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9

Interview. . . continued from pg. 9

controls soil erosion and drainage, maintains organic matter balance and practices crop rotation and clean culture methods, which is why we have won various environmental excellence and stewardship awards.

Our practices changed over the years to include methods like strip or conservation tillage. We grew to understand particular cross genetics and matching those with our field characteristic to enhance the benefits for disease resistance, water retention, fertility and other desirable traits.

Our operation had 2,000 acres when I started working in it and now it has 3100. With the exception of potatoes, we still plant pretty much the same combination of crops as we did when my father was alive.

This year, we even returned to growing red kidney beans for Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc. because our two companies have a long history together, back to the time when my father, Pete, and Russell Doane, the founders of their respective companies, were best friends and shared ideals of ‘quality-first’ and sustainability orientation.

As far as technology goes, the first tractor my father ever bought new was a JD 4020, which is still on the farm, running strong.

Later, we operated both John Deere and Case IH machines since my father was part owner of a Case IH dealership, which he sold about 20 years ago when Case started consolidating dealerships.

However, we grew beyond those first machines and into the technology era, using RTK guidance systems and other new technologies highly involved with variable rate irrigation and field mapping, which we developed with the help of Precision Water Works, who set up our systems. Ninety percent of our land is now mapped for water retention capacity.

10 BC�T May

Wallendal Supply, Inc. received one of five Environmental Stewardship Awards from the National Potato Council for the 1996 crop year. This is a vintage photo from the site of their Integrated Potato Systems Research Project. Pictured left to right: Andy Wallendal, Pete Wallendal (Andy’s father), Bob Stodola (Andy’s brother-in-law) and John Wallendal (Andy’s brother). BC’T photo.

As one of the leaders and early adaptors of variable rate irrigation technology, we are now in our third year of variable rate irrigation and are preparing to purchase our first drone for use in variable rate irrigation and variable rate fertilizer applications for this crop season.

This allows us to consume less water overall and produce high quality consistent crop from acre to acre and farm on a square meter basis versus an half pivot basis, helping fine tune a smaller area of crop at a time.

Quality and sustainability are vitally important to our operation, which why we belong to FieldRise, a national sustainability organization with a holistic, cooperative approach to address global food chain challenges.

Their program employs science-based metrics to help provide a solid basis for forward progress, building better relationships and better sustainability outcomes.

FieldRise helps build sustainability models through questionnaires completed by growers and

associations. After discovering that my information would be private, I filled out a questionnaire, which was very easy to complete and submitted it. Based on my answers and a comparison of other questionnaires, FieldRise then suggested how to make more money by adjusting practices to improve my sustainability results.

We try to stay ahead of the curve by testing and continually evaluating new production techniques and technologies such as field mapping, computerized pivot panels and variable rate fertility. We examine crop and tillage systems over multiple years, not just for the crop of that year or the moment, and also understand the legacy of prior crops.

You have grown a wide variety of vegetables over the years. Can you discuss some of your experiences with those crops?

We grew potatoes for many years but found they were high management and capital-intensive crops. They can be very rewarding and very frustrating at the same time. Potatoes are more dependent on Mother Nature and risk

e Drive 54467

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e

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rewards can be a roller coaster.

We are always looking for new crops to add to the mix or examining past crops we have raised for long-term sustainability, which is why we are once again growing red kidney beans this year for Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc. One of our most important crops is food-grade soybeans.

The characteristics of food-grade soybeans vary depending upon how they will be used, whether they end up as tofu, soymilk or other soy food products.

No matter what vegetable you grow, whether it is potatoes or some other crop, seed quality is a major factor in determining crop success or failure.

Good seed should be accurately labeled, cleaned, graded to size and be viable as well as disease and insect free.

How seeds are stored is also vitally

important because seed stored under less protective conditions will not remain as viable as those that are stored properly, in cool, dry storage conditions.

Why do you believe vegetable crops other than just potatoes are important to this industry and the state of Wisconsin?

Filling your mix with multiple crops can definitely help mitigate risks and aid in furthering agronomics, crop production, rotations and building a complete, sustainable farming system.

Since we rent out non-potato acres for rotation, we view other vegetable crops as our number one crop, not as alternative crops and believe that is a practical direction.

We are always looking for new crops to add to the mix or re-examining old ones that we have previously planted, so we can produce for long-term sustainability while satisfying our

customers’ needs.

Emerging markets are developing daily for all vegetables, especially with proteins, carbohydrates, starches and vegetable wastes now serving as building blocks for new products like bio-fuels, bio-plastics and other synthetic materials.

While we do not work direct with consumers, they do influence the food industry and snack foods and have given rise to increased demands for organic and fresh vegetables used in final end-user products, for which they are willing to pay a much higher price point. This is a development, which all farmers should watch closely.

Our food-grade soybeans are generally shipped to global markets like Korea, Japan and China. The world is getting smaller and import markets are now prime targets for every continued on pg. 12

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Interview. . . continued from pg. 11

grower’s production.

The quality of your vegetable harvests is also becoming a very significant determination in attracting new customers. While growing for quality is not an inexpensive direction, by any means, we in the Central Sands are still consistent producers of high quality vegetables due to our well-drained, sandy soils and readily available water supply.

You are currently serving as President of the WPVGA Board, an office that requires a great deal of time and effort on your part. Why do you feel this position and other ones you have held, are important to your operation and the potato and vegetable industry overall?

I am very fortunate to represent the growers of this state in this capacity and pursued this office in order to have a stake in setting our own operation’s future as well as the future of all agriculture throughout Wisconsin.

As President, I can help trigger steps that are necessary to influence legislation at all levels. I also have opportunities to interact with the players involved in the legislative process as well as maintain my grassroots connections and help blend the need of all parties into a better outcome.

I am a strong believer that we, as growers, must ‘step out of our silos and see the big picture’ and not bury our heads in the sands. We cannot complain of any outcome if we do nothing to help determine its direction.

What do you enjoy personally about your involvement with WPVGA and what would you recommend to other growers as far as involvement/participation in WPVGA/other associations, local activities and legislative action, while understanding the time and effort involved?

Working with the dedicated WPVGA 12 BC�T May

Andy Wallendal is shown near a wild lupine plant, just left of him, in a tallgrass prairie with an oak savannah in the background. The land is part of Wallendal Supply’s Healthy Grown natural community component, which provides for native species habitat. Lupines are necessary for the caterpillar survival stage of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.

BC’T Photo.

staff has been one of my favorite aspects of my WPVGA involvement.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed interacting with board members and other industry leaders, to serve as a force for moving agriculture in a positive direction on local, township, county and state levels.

I strongly advocate that growers jump in with both feet or if it is more comfortable, at least stick a toe into participating with WPVGA and other organizations and activities.

You can join leadership programs and help on committees and events. You can get involved on a local basis, be it from assisting with food pantries, county fairs, FFA or getting involved in local politics and county boards. Just

make your voices known.

I fully believe, “If you’re not at the table discussing these issues, you’re on the menu.”

We all need to constantly refresh our minds and shake off the staleness.

There are constantly new ideas and methods and interacting with others is the best way to see what works.

The Little Plover River Conservancy project is a great example of how various constituencies: agriculture, legislative bodies, environmental organizations, commercial concern and residential citizens are working together to achieve the common goal of making our area a better place to live.

By working with all concerned parties and understanding everyone’s side to the story, we develop outcomes far superior than if we only worked with agriculture alone.

Additionally, through our involvement with WPVGA, our farm is privileged to have many University of Wisconsin agricultural college members conduct on-farm research here and are honored that Wallendal Supply, Inc. is featured in many Masters and PhD thesis papers.

What steps do you believe WPVGA should take to reach beyond its primary potato grower core

membership base to attract new vegetable grower members who serve the broader industry?

WPVGA needs to work with similar state agriculture groups, identify commonalities and from those, work together towards common goals.

This would be common goals for not just growers and associate members but all the way from processing to field-to-fork approach. Restaurants, grocery stores and consumers are all part of the food industry so we need to act together as a team to produce healthier and safer products to the table. Agriculture particularly, needs

to be part of the solution.

We also need to understand the international crop-solution processes as we become a more global society.

While a diverse force may have differing views, it can still connect with mutual goals and create a far greater impact than acting as a private island, chained to our own thoughts.

Most growers are already active environmentalist, serving as good stewards of their land, protect it because it is their livelihood and where they live and work. They work hard to improve sustainability, continued on pg. 14

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(715) 623-2689 Reds: • Red Norlands • Dark Red Norlands • Red Endeavor Whites: • Atlantics • Snowdens • Superiors • Pikes • MegaChip • Lamoka Russets: • Russet Burbanks • Goldrush • Silverton • TX296 Norkotah • Russet Norkotah CO8 WISCONSIN CERTIFIED SEED POTATOES

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Interview. . . continued from pg. 13

set benchmarks, build on their accomplishments and continuously move forward. That is the face and future of agriculture.

We need to make a seat at the table for consumers because they are the gatekeepers of what is eaten at the table. Unless consumers eat it, processors do not pay us to grow it.

We are here because we satisfy their needs.

Our involvement in groups and leadership roles within these groups will be the foundation of our legacy and will greatly influence the next generation’s futures.

As President of the WPVGA Board, what are some of the other goals you would like WPVGA to achieve during your tenure in office?

I would truly like to see WPVGA’s legislative efforts toward championing the need for high capacity wells, succeed, and to have the questions surrounding water quality and quantity addressed in a sciencebased manner so we can continue to produce crops in an economical and environmentally safe manner, while simultaneously protecting the needs of other parties.

In my ideal world, I would see more WPVGA members actively promoting WPVGA and agriculture in general.

We need to step out of our comfort zones and express what we like about our organization and agriculture and not hesitate to support both of them.

In this new age of communications and social media, it is even more important to tell our own story and have a say in how it is communicated.

Our lives will improve if we all work together towards educating the consumer and regaining their confidence.

We need to be advocates, promoting ourselves as active environmentalists and getting the message out about how important agriculture is to the region, nation and world.

I would also prefer to see further research and interaction with UWMadison staff to help provide our vegetable farmers with a ‘roadmap’ of good practices they can engage in while cultivating and preserving their soil, rotating crops, improving water quality, avoiding disease and reducing nutrient loss.

What do you see as the biggest obstacles to the future of the potato

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and vegetable industry and what recommendations do you have to address this obstacle going forward?

It will become even more important in the next decades, to gain consumer acceptance of our industry and take an active role in advocating our purpose.

Again, while most of us do not work directly with consumers, they are the ones who decide what products they will or will not buy. Additionally, they can impact legislative action, which can, in turn impact how we farm.

We must ‘think globally but act locally’, becoming advocates for agriculture to our communities, regions, states and throughout the world as we become greater suppliers of global food demands.

As demands change and new markets develop, we will need to continuously enhance and breed specific traits and new crop varieties. We will also need to create benchmarking practices for continuous improvements.

I like to say, “Step out of your silos and see the big picture” so we do not become our own worst enemy but rather, our strongest defenders.

We need to realize we are not a nuclear entity and stop thinking only in terms of our own operation. We are connected to the never-ending cycle of interactive agriculture, involving not just potatoes and vegetables. We touch all aspects, even livestock and dairy concerns, grain productions, forage, fresh market and more.

Our operation is a good example of this. Beyond vegetables, we raise quite a few acres of forage. The forage we grow is then sold to Milk Source, LLC to feed to their dairy cows. Those cows then produce milk, which goes to processors, eventually ending up on the table for consumers, once more fulfilling the ‘field-to-fork’ concept, thereby encompassing all stages of food production: planting, harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sales and consumption.

Badger Beat Central Sands & International Year of Soils

By Matt Ruark, Department of Soil Science, UW-Madison; Extension Specialist, UW-Extension Alfred Hartemink, Department of Soil Science, UW-Madison

The 68th UN General Assembly (UN) declared 2015 to be the International Year of Soils.

Yes, this is a real thing - not just a resolution that is passed and forgotten.

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is charged with implementing the International Year of Soils through the Global Soil Partnership.

Among the many objectives of this

partnership, the FAO’s goals are to raise full awareness about the importance of soil on human life and educate the public about the role soil plays in food security, climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation.

One of the more interesting and important messages to come out of the FAO, in my opinion, is the idea that soil is not a renewable resource, meaning that it does not renew itself

at a sufficient rate in the human time frame. In too many parts of the world, we are losing soil at a much faster rate continued on pg. 16

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BC�T May 15

Badger Beat. . . continued from pg. 15

than it can develop.

Meanwhile, the USDA in collaboration with the Soil Science Society of America has developed monthly themes to highlight the importance of soil. March’s theme was Soils Support Agriculture.

In the spirit of the 2015 International Year of Soils, I thought it would be meaningful to reflect on all of the current soil science related research being conducted in collaboration with the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. Soil science research is especially important for those growers in the Central Sands where the soil creates unique advantages and challenges for growing high value and nutrient rich crops.

CONTROLLED-RELEASE FERTILIZER USE ON POTATOES This research has been a primary focus of mine for the past six years and is funded primarily through WPVGA, with additional funding through Wisconsin Fertilizer Research Council, DATCP and DNR. Dr. Birl Lowery and I have collaborated together to evaluate the effect of polymer-coated ureas, nitrification inhibitors and

urease inhibitors on potato and sweet corn yield, nitrogen use efficiency and leaching losses of N. Overall, the polymer-coated urea products have worked well, sometimes leading to increases in yield and often requiring less N to be applied, especially later in the growing season.

However, wide-scale adoption has yet to occur, likely the effect of the higher cost of the product and less ability to evaluate if the product is releasing N when it is needed.

Current research efforts are focused on developing in-field measurement techniques that can be used to evaluate performance of the fertilizer products during the season.

OPTIMIZING NITROGEN FERTILIZER RATES FOR SNAP BEAN AND SWEET CORN VARIETIES After multiple years of research, two things are clear – the optimal N rate for snap bean or sweet corn will vary by variety and planting date. This variation can be as little as 10 lbs. - N/ acre to greater than 50 lbs. - N/acre.

Through collaboration with farmers in the Central Sands and vegetable

processing companies, we have started to create a database to quantify optimal N rates for different scenarios as well as to evaluate the environmental impact of these N rates.

Certainly more field work needs to be completed and it will be an ongoing process as new varieties emerge.

This research can be very powerful when it comes to improving economic production and environmental sustainability.

COVER CROPS, MANURE AND PREDICTING NITROGEN MINERALIZATION ON SANDY SOIL USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative and Wisconsin Fertilizer Council currently support this research. While sandy soils provide a great growing environment for many crops, the big challenge remains managing N on these soils to maximize efficiency and reduce losses.

Sandy soils have limited ability to retain applied N for long periods of time; so many growers are using split applications to optimize efficiency.

Cover crops are another management practice that can be used to supply N to crops (as green manure) or to trap applied nutrients.

Legume cover crops have been shown to have a consistent N credit on heavier textured soils, but research is lacking that shows that the N from decaying leguminous plant biomass is released during periods of high N needed by the subsequent crop. In fact, there is some evidence to support that the legumes decompose too quickly on sandy soils and grass cover crops may be more valuable in supplying N to the next crop.

Figure 1. Spatial distribution of topsoil depth (in cm), soil organic carbon (SOC) content (divide g/kg by 10 to get %) and SOC stocks in a potato field in the Central Sands of Wisconsin.

Note the two-fold change in all values which suggest more variation in topsoil and C than previously believed.

16 BC�T May

Cover crops will also play a key role as a trap crop for leached nitrate when manure is added to the soil. Perhaps the biggest opportunity and challenge for farmers in the Central Sands region is how to rectify the interaction of dairy and vegetables to produce

healthy, economically viable crops and protect groundwater quality.

pine trees had only 6 inches of topsoil depth.

can be important knowledge to have for managing water and nutrients.

Since sandy soils warm up and dry out faster than silt loam soils, it is likely that mineralization of organic inputs (cover crop biomass or manure), will happen more quickly on sands.

We found that the soil C concentrations of these different land uses were all in the range of 0.8 to 1.2% C. The carbon stocks (in tons per acre) were about three to four times higher in an agricultural field than under the forest or grassland corners.

As outlined previously, a substantial amount of University of WisconsinMadison soil science research ongoing efforts are focused on the sustainability of potato and vegetable farming, some of which will be wrapped up quickly, some will continue on for decades. The partnership between UW-Madison and WPGVA is a great example of how public/private partnerships can work for the betterment of agriculture and society, through advancement in knowledge of nutrient cycling and soil processes.

Current efforts are underway to understand and predict mineralization rates on sandy soils following cover crop, manure or N fertilizer additions.

The ability to predict N release from organic inputs is crucial to improving N use efficiency in our cropping systems.

SOIL CARBON IN THE CENTRAL SANDS A digital soil mapping project in the Central Sands near Westfield revealed that there was considerable differences in topsoil depth between different land usages.

Topsoil depth in fields under potatoes or sweet corn was well over 9.5 inches, whereas adjacent plots under

These high carbon stocks (>15 tons/ acre) have not been reported before and are the result of irrigation (i.e. additional water added to soil), and the addition of 200 lb-N/acre per year, which greatly enhance crop production. Irrigation and N fertilization management practices increase the amount of C added to the soil (through crop residue and roots).

The implication of this research is that we cannot think about a field of Coloma Sand as a low C environment.

Agricultural management on these soils has altered them and the increase in C over time or in parts of the field

Additional information on the International Year of Soils and other global soil initiatives can be found here: - http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/en/ - http://www.fao.org/ globalsoilpartnership/en/ - https://www.soils.org/IYS

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Lprcp Vision Continues

Village of Plover Participation (Article Two of the ongoing LPRCP series)

By Ruth Faivre

Strategizing with all stakeholders involved is what Dan Mahoney, Village of Plover, Village Administrator, does on a daily basis.

The last several years, Mahoney and the Village of Plover worked closely with a number of area growers, processors and agricultural interests like the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) along with Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Portage County Land Preservation Committee, researchers and water conservationists regarding Little Plover River watershed challenges.

The Little Plover River Conservancy Project (LPRCP) emerged in the midst of those challenges when DNR and Portage County Land Preservation Committee seized upon an opportunity to acquire an initial 100 acres of farmland to repurpose into a woodland, prairie and wetland conservancy.

According to Mahoney, “Working together, all parties initiated a broad master plan to provide areas for hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking and cross country skiing in concert with an educational mission designed to promote the importance of our region’s agriculture and the need to understand how all parties, even residential areas, impact our groundwater reserves.”

“This project will work because everyone involved agrees they want to restore the river to healthy levels. Sciencebased research will help pinpoint problems and then we can work together to solve them. Many factors impact a river’s flow, not just one particular aspect. Unless we address all the issues, the situation will not improve,” explains Mahoney.

For more details or to contribute to LPRCP, contact Jeremie Pavelski, Heartland Farms, jpavelski@hfinc.biz or Jim Wysocki, Wysocki Family of Companies, jim.wysocki@ rpespud.com.

Above: Renowned photographer Pete Sanderson describes this spectacular photo. “One spring, I found this Great Blue Heron highlighted by early morning light, peeking through the fog on the Plover River. This was one of those days when luck produced a great image.” This is exactly the type of opportunity that the Little Plover River Conservancy hopes to establish within its terrain. Next Page: A plat map showing proposed master plan and some possible uses.

18 BC�T May

BC�T May 19

Vegetable Crop Rankings Wisconsin Still Strong!

Photos by Ruth Faivre

Green pea harvest in full swing at Adams Farm, Inc., Stevens Point, WI.

According to the USDA Vegetables percent of totals was 13.2 in 2013 and production, are tomatoes, sweet 2014Summary Processing Production of 8 Selected Vegetables Up 12 Percent from 7.3 in 2014. corn2013 and snap beans, which combine 2014 released January 2015, even though Wisconsin is third in Processing production of eight to account for 93 percent of the Processing production of eightour selected estimated in 2014 totaled 19.2 million tons, up 12 percent from last processing acres harvested, state vegetables selected vegetables (lima beans, snap total. The top three crops in terms of year.

Area harvested is estimated at 1.09 million acres, up 3 percent from a year ago.value Processing crop valuesweet is estimated at are tomatoes, corn and is still second in processing production beans, carrots, sweet corn, cucumbers 2.20 billion dollars, 4 percent above 2013.

The three largest crops, in terms of production, are tomatoes, sweet corn, and and value. for pickles, green peas, spinach and cucumbers. These three processing snap beans, which combine to account for 93 percent of the total. The top three crops in terms of value are tomatoes, tomatoes) estimated in 2014 totaled vegetables account for 81 percent of our processing percentages However, sweet corn, and cucumbers. These three processing vegetables account for 81 percent of the total value when combined. of totals did slip as compared to last 19.2 million tons, up 12 percent from the total value when combined. last year. Area harvested is estimated For the eight processed vegetables year with percent of processing For the eight processed vegetablesarea estimated in 2014, California leads the nation with 28 percent of the harvested acreage, at 1.09 million acres, up 3 percent estimated in 2014, California leads harvested 16.7 inand 2013 74 percent down of the from production, 60 to percent of the value.

16.3 in 2014. Processing production from a year ago. Processing crop value the nation with 28 percent of the percent of totals was 6.5 in 2013 is estimated at2.20 billion dollars, 4 harvested acreage, 74 percent of the production and 60 percent of the and 5.6 in 2014. WI number of acres percent above 2013. harvested dropped. Processing value The three largest crops, in terms of value.

Leading Processing Vegetable States in 2014

[Lima beans, snap beans, carrots, sweet corn, cucumbers for pickles, green peas, spinach, and tomatoes] Area harvested Rank

State

Percent of total

Production State

Value Percent of total

State

1

California

28.3 California

2

Minnesota

16.3 Wisconsin

5.6 Wisconsin

7.3

3

Wisconsin

16.3 Washington

4.7 Minnesota

6.2

4

Washington

10.6 Minnesota

4.5 Washington

5.3

5

Oregon

(D)

(D)

(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.

20 BC�T May

4.9 Michigan

73.7 California

Percent of total

Michigan

60.2

Snap Beans for Processing Area Planted and Harvested, Yield, Production, Price, and Value by Utilization – States and United States: 2012-2014 State and utilization

Area planted

Area harvested

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

Illinois ..................................................

Indiana ................................................

Michigan ..............................................

Minnesota ............................................

New York .............................................

Oregon ................................................

Pennsylvania .......................................

Wisconsin ............................................

8,700 5,100 18,000 6,000 19,700 13,500 10,000 74,000

(D) 5,100 18,000 (D) 20,380 10,600 8,000 65,500

(D) 4,900 (D) (D) 20,610 8,500 11,600 66,000

7,500 5,000 17,800 5,700 19,000 13,400 9,800 70,700

(D) 5,000 17,800 (D) 18,900 10,550 7,900 59,800

(D) 4,700 (D) (D) 20,420 8,500 11,400 64,100

Other States 1 ......................................

21,475

33,590

52,450

17,455

29,820

49,950

United States .......................................

176,475

161,170

164,060

166,355

149,770

159,070

Canning ...............................................

113,260

107,800

108,510

105,940

98,040

104,410

Freezing ..............................................

63,215

53,370

55,550

60,415

51,730

54,660

State and utilization

Yield per acre 2012

2013

(tons)

Production 2014

(tons)

(tons)

2012

2013

2014

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

Illinois ..................................................

Indiana ................................................

Michigan ..............................................

Minnesota ............................................

New York .............................................

Oregon ................................................

Pennsylvania .......................................

Wisconsin ............................................

4.58 3.15 4.00 4.19 3.29 6.81 3.39 4.50

(D) 2.90 4.33 (D) 3.29 6.34 2.74 4.99

(D) 3.00 (D) (D) 4.00 4.10 3.01 4.87

34,380 15,750 71,200 23,910 62,540 91,200 33,270 317,980

(D) 14,520 77,100 (D) 62,270 66,850 21,630 298,570

(D) 14,100 (D) (D) 81,680 34,850 34,310 312,280

Other States 1 ......................................

4.61

4.22

4.08

80,450

125,840

204,020

United States .......................................

4.39

4.45

4.28

730,680

666,780

681,240

Canning ...............................................

4.30

4.34

4.26

455,830

425,110

444,760

Freezing ..............................................

4.55

4.67

4.33

274,850

241,670

236,480

State and utilization

Price per ton

Value of production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(dollars)

(dollars)

(dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

Illinois ..................................................

Indiana ................................................

Michigan ..............................................

Minnesota ............................................

New York .............................................

Oregon ................................................

Pennsylvania .......................................

Wisconsin ............................................

232.00 230.00 235.00 308.00 300.00 223.00 295.00 242.00

(D) 247.00 240.00 (D) 264.00 204.00 284.00 340.00

(D) 210.00 (D) (D) 338.00 400.00 303.00 185.00

7,989 3,630 16,718 7,371 18,762 20,325 9,802 76,944

(D) 3,587 18,518 (D) 16,434 13,626 6,143 101,452

(D) 2,961 (D) (D) 27,575 13,940 10,411 57,633

Other States 1 ......................................

451.00

425.00

282.00

36,270

53,490

57,546

United States .......................................

271.00

320.00

250.00

197,811

213,250

170,066

Canning ...............................................

239.00

330.00

203.00

109,131

140,457

90,327

Freezing ..............................................

323.00

301.00

337.00

88,680

72,793

79,739

(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.

1 Includes data withheld above and/or data for States not listed in this table. continued on pg. 22

Vegetables 2014 Summary (January 2015) USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service

69 BC�T May 21

Vegetable Crop Rankings. . . continued from pg. 21

Tony Kizewski, Kizewski Farms, Stevens Point, WI, inspects potato sizes and quality during harvest.

Giant carrots harvested from Paul Miller farms, Hancock, WI, are loaded into a semi for transport.

Carrots for Processing Area Planted and Harvested, Yield, Production, Price, and Value – States and United States: 2012-2014 State

Area planted 2012

Area harvested

2013

(acres)

2014

(acres)

2012

(acres)

2013

(acres)

2014

(acres)

(acres)

Washington ........................

Wisconsin ..........................

3,100 4,300

4,300 4,200

(D) 3,800

3,100 4,200

4,200 4,100

(D) 3,700

Other States 1 ....................

6,040

5,250

7,950

5,810

5,010

7,730

United States .....................

13,440

13,750

11,750

13,110

13,310

11,430

State

Yield per acre 2012

Production

2013

(tons)

2014

(tons)

(tons)

2012

2013

2014

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

Washington ........................

Wisconsin ..........................

31.80 28.31

30.40 28.50

(D) 28.95

98,580 118,900

127,680 116,850

(D) 107,100

Other States 1 ....................

19.94

21.44

27.78

115,870

107,420

214,720

United States .....................

25.43

26.44

28.16

333,350

351,950

321,820

State

Price per ton

Value of production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(dollars)

(dollars)

(dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

Washington ........................

Wisconsin ..........................

80.90 87.10

104.00 106.00

(D) 89.30

7,975 10,356

13,279 12,362

(D) 9,569

Other States 1 ....................

137.00

162.00

129.00

15,861

17,367

27,624

United States .....................

103.00

122.00

116.00

34,192

43,008

37,193

(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.

1 Includes data withheld above and/or data for States not listed in this table.

BC�T May

Commercial processors harvest sweet corn grown on Gagas Farms, Custer, WI.

Sweet Corn for Processing Area Planted and Harvested, Yield, Production, Price, and Value by Utilization – States and United States: 2012-2014 State and utilization

Area planted

Area harvested

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

Illinois ..................................................

Minnesota ............................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ............................................

(D) 132,200 (D) 85,800 75,300

(D) 125,200 (D) 65,400 70,800

(D) 116,600 23,300 69,600 69,900

(D) 129,200 (D) 85,600 73,200

(D) 118,700 (D) 64,400 66,500

(D) 109,400 23,200 69,400 65,800

Other States 1 ......................................

73,850

67,400

45,780

72,480

65,350

44,480

United States .......................................

367,150

328,800

325,180

360,480

314,950

312,280

Canning ...............................................

164,300

152,500

155,200

161,700

147,100

150,000

Freezing ..............................................

202,850

176,300

169,980

198,780

167,850

162,280

State and utilization

Yield per acre 2012

2013

(tons)

(tons)

Production 2014 (tons)

2012

2013

2014

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

Illinois ..................................................

Minnesota ............................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ............................................

(D) 6.90 (D) 10.00 8.01

(D) 6.74 (D) 9.96 8.78

(D) 6.85 9.50 9.98 8.24

(D) 891,860 (D) 855,880 586,340

(D) 799,720 (D) 641,320 583,960

(D) 749,440 220,480 692,600 542,160

Other States 1 ......................................

8.63

8.06

8.16

625,270

526,830

363,140

United States .......................................

8.21

8.10

8.22

2,959,350

2,551,830

2,567,820

Canning ...............................................

7.64

7.63

7.81

1,235,910

1,122,640

1,171,600

Freezing ..............................................

8.67

8.51

8.60

1,723,440

1,429,190

1,396,220

State and utilization

Price per ton

Value of production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(dollars)

(dollars)

(dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

Illinois ..................................................

Minnesota ............................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ............................................

(D) 132.00 (D) 113.00 114.00

(D) 150.00 (D) 121.00 150.00

(D) 113.00 126.00 108.00 96.20

(D) 117,602 (D) 96,946 67,014

(D) 120,108 (D) 77,915 87,569

(D) 84,805 27,841 74,693 52,177

Other States 1 ......................................

152.00

137.00

138.00

95,132

72,212

50,057

United States .......................................

127.00

140.00

113.00

376,694

357,804

289,573

Canning ...............................................

131.00

150.00

108.00

161,478

168,361

126,936

Freezing ..............................................

125.00

133.00

116.00

215,216

189,443

162,637

(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.

1 Includes data withheld above and/or data for States not listed in this table.

continued on pg. 24 BC�T May 23

Vegetable Crop Rankings. . . continued from pg. 23

View inside the tractor pulling the oversized Oxbow 1514 dump box that Paradise Farms, Almond, WI, customized for their operation.

Cucumbers for Pickles Area Planted and Harvested, Yield, Production, Price, and Value – States and United States: 2012-2014 State

Area planted

Area harvested

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

Florida ................................

Indiana ...............................

Michigan ............................

North Carolina ....................

Ohio ...................................

South Carolina ...................

Texas .................................

Wisconsin ..........................

16,000 1,200 29,700 6,400 7,100 2,000 3,600 5,600

(D) 2,000 29,000 (D) 8,000 (D) 4,400 6,000

13,700 2,400 27,900 (D) 7,500 (D) 4,500 5,600

16,000 1,000 28,700 6,300 7,000 2,000 3,300 5,300

(D) 1,900 28,000 (D) 7,000 (D) 4,000 5,900

13,300 2,300 27,400 (D) 6,500 (D) 4,200 5,400

Other States 1 ....................

15,360

36,400

18,380

14,960

35,300

17,480

United States .....................

86,960

85,800

79,980

84,560

82,100

76,580

State

Yield per acre 2012

Production

2013

(tons)

2014

(tons)

(tons)

2012

2013

2014

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

Florida ................................

Indiana ...............................

Michigan ............................

North Carolina ....................

Ohio ...................................

South Carolina ...................

Texas .................................

Wisconsin ..........................

6.75 2.50 5.40 5.51 4.47 3.00 5.00 5.70

(D) 3.00 5.80 (D) 7.50 (D) 4.70 6.51

7.85 5.00 6.10 (D) 6.30 (D) 4.66 6.26

108,000 2,500 154,980 34,710 31,290 6,000 16,500 30,210

(D) 5,700 162,400 (D) 52,500 (D) 18,800 38,410

104,410 11,500 167,140 (D) 40,950 (D) 19,570 33,800

Other States 1 ....................

6.41

5.53

5.97

95,870

195,330

104,370

United States .....................

5.68

5.76

6.29

480,060

473,140

481,740

State

Price per ton

Value of production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(dollars)

(dollars)

(dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

Florida ................................

Indiana ...............................

Michigan ............................

North Carolina ....................

Ohio ...................................

South Carolina ...................

Texas .................................

Wisconsin ..........................

442.00 360.00 240.00 355.00 320.00 220.00 230.00 259.00

(D) 350.00 230.00 (D) 325.00 (D) 430.00 288.00

580.00 320.00 210.00 (D) 300.00 344.00 540.00 297.00

47,736 900 37,195 12,322 10,013 1,320 3,795 7,824

(D) 1,995 37,352 (D) 17,063 (D) 8,084 11,062

60,558 3,680 35,099 (D) 12,285 (D) 10,568 10,039

Other States 1 ....................

449.00

371.00

416.00

43,046

72,545

43,405

United States .....................

342.00

313.00

365.00

164,151

148,101

175,634

(D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.

1 Includes data withheld above and/or data for States not listed in this table.

24 BC�T May

Green Peas for Processing Area Planted and Harvested, Yield, Production, Price, and Value by Utilization – States and United States: 2012-2014 State and utilization

Area planted

Area harvested

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

(acres)

Delaware ............................................

Minnesota ...........................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ...........................................

5,700 80,200 15,500 41,800 39,500

5,100 67,700 21,100 45,000 37,800

5,000 68,600 19,600 40,800 37,700

5,700 74,900 14,700 40,900 37,300

5,000 60,800 21,100 44,500 36,000

5,000 64,000 19,600 40,500 36,600

Other States 1 .....................................

21,400

11,180

24,000

21,000

10,900

21,900

United States ......................................

204,100

187,880

195,700

194,500

178,300

187,600

Canning ..............................................

85,500

74,200

79,900

82,300

70,900

74,900

Freezing ..............................................

118,600

113,680

115,800

112,200

107,400

112,700

State and utilization

Yield per acre

Production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

(tons)

Delaware ............................................

Minnesota ...........................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ...........................................

2.16 1.49 2.79 3.13 1.78

2.16 1.44 1.91 2.75 2.10

2.26 1.22 2.11 2.92 1.93

12,310 111,570 41,000 128,040 66,300

10,800 87,630 40,300 122,380 75,550

11,300 78,150 41,430 118,440 70,640

Other States 1 .....................................

2.29

1.78

1.96

48,030

19,390

42,900

United States ......................................

2.09

2.00

1.93

407,250

356,050

362,860

Canning ..............................................

1.58

1.75

1.58

130,370

124,000

118,710

Freezing ..............................................

2.47

2.16

2.17

276,880

232,050

244,150

State and utilization

Price per ton

Value of production

2012

2013

2014

2012

2013

2014

(dollars)

(dollars)

(dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

(1,000 dollars)

Delaware ............................................

Minnesota ...........................................

Oregon ................................................

Washington .........................................

Wisconsin ...........................................

350.00 617.00 302.00 275.00 461.00

263.00 640.00 265.00 287.00 521.00

340.00 567.00 253.00 249.00 378.00

4,309 68,816 12,362 35,250 30,566

2,840 56,111 10,671 35,131 39,360

3,842 44,273 10,466 29,433 26,685

Other States 1 .....................................

531.00

403.00

433.00

25,515

7,815

18,562

United States ......................................

434.00

427.00

367.00

176,818

151,928

133,261

Canning ..............................................

580.00

572.00

459.00

75,594

70,890

54,480

Freezing ..............................................

366.00

349.00

323.00

101,224

81,038

78,781

1

Includes data withheld above and/or data for States not listed in this table.

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New Fieldnet® Pivot Control

Upgrade Nearly Any Brand Pivot

By Ruth Faivre, Managing Editor

Lindsay Corporation, maker of Zimmatic irrigation systems, announces FieldNET® Pivot Control, the industry’s first solution for upgrading almost any brand pivot to full remote irrigation control and monitoring capabilities. Growers gain full remote monitoring and variable rate irrigation control through a simple, economical retrofit Many growers today manage multiple brands of irrigation systems. This requires operators to understand various types of pivot control panels, which takes time to learn and could lead to operator error.

Pivot Control can change the way growers manage their irrigation by providing a single consistent irrigation experience.

“It is simple, it is very intuitive. The ability to basically tap into any system and have this product as kind of plugand-play on there, that’s great. You can take a 30-year-old pivot and bring it right up to date with this unit,” said Jared Gardner, a Rocky Ford, CO grower, who tested the product on his Zimmatic pivot and two other brands.

26 BC�T May

Unlike other remote irrigation control products, Pivot Control mounts at the pivot point and combines with GPS at the end of the pivot for increased precision and greater flexibility. Growers can operate their pivot in the field at the control box or remotely using FieldNET—both elements automatically update together--minimizing the chance for user error. From a smartphone, tablet, or computer, growers can control their pivots and equipment, including pumps, injectors, and monitor sensors for pressure, flow, soil moisture, rainfall, temperature, and other devices in the future.

“Making all my pivots universally controlled through one device is great and having pump control is crucial,” said Gardner.

The system will send alerts to the growers’ phone to notify them of

any irrigation issues. “I water out of a canal and get lots of error alerts in water flow, and power flickers,” says Gardner. “Being able to power back up from my phone is essential. It saves me hours of drive time and wear and tear on my vehicle.”

Pivot Control comes standard with 360-sector variable rate irrigation (VRI), offering twice the number of sectors available on most basic VRI products. Growers working with agronomists and crop specialists to analyze their unique field conditions can upload custom prescriptions to FieldNET with a touch of a button.

“Once the prescription is created it takes less than a minute to upload,” said Agronomist Lamar LaPorte. “The biggest advantage is being able to scale the concept of VRI over a whole farm or multiple farms efficiently. By eliminating the time consuming

process of having to change each sector, it is a huge benefit.”

Gardner says he has researched VRI and sees it as a next step. “Our inputs just keep getting more expensive so if we can utilize VRI to grow, that’s the next step,” says Gardner.

Pivot Control takes over the existing pivot, giving the grower full access to precision irrigation control and convenient monitoring. “There’s really nothing else like it on the market.

Pivot Control provides growers an affordable and easy way to own features that can more effectively and conveniently manage irrigation resources,” said Reece Andrews FieldNET business manager.

For more information, visit www. myfieldnet.com/pivot-control or talk to your local Zimmatic dealer. In Plover, WI, call Oasis Irrigation, LLC, (715) 366-8300, Plainfield, WI.

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Imagery

Life & Death of a Potato Field

By William F. Stocks, Aerial Imagery Solutions LLC www.aerialimagerysolutions.com

Ever evolving, Infrared imagery

is becoming an integral part of precision agriculture. One of the really interesting capabilities coming on board for agriculture today is Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), which is probably infrared imagery’s key competency.

NDVI, simply put, is a measure of plant health and is created from the reflectance values of sunlight wavelengths reflected by the plants in red, green and blue color bands (RGB), which you can see, and the near infrared bands (NIR), which you cannot see. NIR is measured in

700-1200 nanometers wavelengths, beyond what is the “visible” spectrum – that, which human eyesight can detect.

Studies show that healthy plants absorb more visible light and reflect more of the NIR bands. If a plant is stressed for any reason, it reflects more visible light and less of the NIR bands. That is why the stressed plant looks pale and unhealthy, because it is reflecting less of the red, green and blue bands of light.

Infrared imagery starts by combining the color bands RGB with NIR, which creates an image called Color Infrared

(CIR). These two products, the RGB/ NIR combination and CIR, are actual photographic images. From the CIR and some complex computer processing, we create an NDVI map that is color coded to tell us where problem areas in a field are located.

NDVI maps tell us many things about plant health, such as disease, drainage, correct water application, pH issues, fertility, which tubers are still bulking up, which ones are ready for harvest and many other things.

Early on in the growth cycle, you need to use caution in viewing infrared imagery, as NDVI values can be skewed

IMAGERY OF NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATIVE INDEX (NDVI)

May 19: Bare Soil.

May 28: Area of first emergence.

June 3: Green areas growing rapidly.

June 16: Near canopy closure.

June 30: Full canopy.

July 7: First to emerge, first to decline.

August 18: Middle area still bulking up.

August 27: Bare soil in black, last to die off in pink and red.

28 BC�T May

by visible bare soil in the image. Our company is able to code out those skewed effects in our computer processing, so we get pure plant NDVI. Only then, can we scientifically check the health of the plant, even at an early growth stage.

In the series of images accompanying this article, we can follow the complete life cycle of the crop. In the first image labeled May 19, we start out with the CIR image on the right and remove the effects of the soil when we produce the NDVI map on the left. The bare soil shows up black, but its presence is not involved in the processing algorithm.

There are no NDVI values in this image, because there are no plants emerging just yet. Nine days later, on May 28 (image 2), we start to see the first signs of emergence. As the season progresses, we see changes in the reflectance values, due to the leaf area increasing in size (images June 3 and June 16). On June 30, we have full canopy. We are seeing pure NDVI

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values and they tell us that the plants are very robust, absorbing the RGB color bands and reflecting most of the NIR bands. This is a beautiful field!

As the plants begin senescence, the first to begin life are the first to decline in health, due to a degradation of the cells. We can follow that pattern around the field, with an exception. It appears that the plants in the center of the field are living a little longer for some reason, maybe due to soil type or some other factor or group of factors. The benefit of knowing this, however, is that those tubers are still bulking up. If left in the ground a little longer, they could help increase yield, perhaps significantly. Using NDVI values as a tool, a producer can determine harvest order objectively instead of subjectively, effectively wringing the last bit of production out of the plants.

NDVI is the workhorse of infrared photography and through our ability

to capture and read its values, we can derive many other capabilities, contributing to the overarching goal of precision agriculture - increasing yield while conserving valuable resources. As world population increases over time, farmers must increase production to meet demand.

Farming technology has always and will continue to evolve, at an even faster pace. Those who embrace technology will enjoy greater yields.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bill Stocks is President of Aerial Imagery Solutions.

A 1980 Previous to graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Farm Management from Brigham Young University, Stocks was a United States Air Force pilot and instructor pilot from 1980-1986. From 1986 to present, he is also an American Airlines Captain and instructor pilot.

All the images in this article are used with the permission of Tad Fikel, InfraRed Baron Inc.

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People Jeff Sommers Named Wisconsin Master Agriculturist Wysocki Produce Farm owner recognized for his farming accomplishments

Above: Louis Wysocki & Jeff Sommers. Louis’ plaque was lost in the fire that destroyed the Wysocki Family of Companies headquarters back in 1999, so Wisconsin Agriculturalist surprised him with a new one. Right: Jeff with his wife, Kathy (far left) and daughter, Laura. Not pictured is his son, Brett.

Sommers, co-owner of Wysocki Family of Companies and general manager of Wysocki Produce Farm, was recognized as a 2015 Master Agriculturist at Wisconsin Agriculturist’s award ceremony in Oshkosh on March 25.

Winners of the Master Agriculturist award are selected for their proven ability and accomplishments as progressive farmers, as well as the time each farmer contributes to community, church and agricultural organizations.

Sommers grew up on a farm, but he began farming on his own during his sophomore year of high school, growing potatoes and corn on rented land and raising beef cattle. He continued farming through college.

Over the following years, Jeff and Kathy Sommers’ farm grew to 2,000 acres of potatoes with its own potato storage

30 BC�T May

and packaging operation.

In 1997, the Wysocki family approached Jeff about merging their potato enterprises. Together, the farms have become Wysocki Family of Companies: an integrated agricultural operation, Wysocki Produce Farm, consisting of 13,000 acres of production; a commercial packaging operation, Paragon Potato Farms; and a potato sales company, RPE, with customers throughout the country.

These are managed by Jeff and his five business partners: Russell Wysocki; Jim Wysocki; Kirk Wille; Gary Wysocki; and Bill Wysocki. Together they have formed other partnerships that include their dairy operation, as well as a baby potato farm in California.

As general manager of Wysocki Produce Farm, Sommers oversees the

operations for 13,000 acres of crops and a 3,500-cow dairy. Sommers also owns 50-head cow and calf operation personally, with both registered and commercial cows in the herd at home.

“We’re very excited to see Jeff being recognized for all his hard work and the expertise he brings to both our company and to young farmers he encourages in the local community,” said Russell Wysocki, president of Wysocki Family of Companies.

RPE, a second generation family farm, is a category leader and key grower/ shipper of year-round potatoes and onions. RPE prides itself on maintaining a high level of business integrity that include commitments to environmental sustainability, as well as category innovation and retail solutions.

Allied Feed Gets the Gold Allied Cooperative’s Feed Division was recently recognized with the coveted Purina Feed Chow Honor Council (CHC) award for achievement and growth among local feed mills. Director of Feed Dane Laack accepted the award on behalf of Allied Cooperative. The ceremonies were held in Maui, Hawaii.

Every 18 months, the Chow Honor Council recognizes established feed dealers and cooperatives that have shown an increase in sales and achieved growth within their market territory.

Nationwide, there are approximately 3,500 Purina Feeds dealers and Cooperatives. Only the top 38 dealers received this recognition.

Dane Laack, Director of Feed receives his Purina Feed Chow Honor Council award in Hawaii.

Allied Cooperative is a 225 million dollar cooperative with services ranging from agronomy, feed and grain to LP and refined fuels to auto parts, hardware, tires and convenience stores. Allied Cooperative has locations in Adams, Arcadia, Blair, Galesville, Mauston, Melrose, Mindoro, Plainfield, Plover, Tomah, West Salem, Wisconsin Dells and Wisconsin Rapids. For more information about Allied Cooperative go to www.allied.coop.

Exclusive WPVGA Member Benefit As a member of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, receive the following benefits from SECURA Insurance: • •

continued on pg. 32

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A discount on eligible lines of your insurance package.

Tailor-made insurance coverage specific to your industry.

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Exceptional claims service.

Your endorsed carrier

To take advantage of this benefit, call Ansay and Associates at 920-722-7531.

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“This award is a credit to hardworking sales and feed division staff,” said Laack. “I am very proud of our team and look forward to continuing to grow our feed division as we work to meet the needs of our customers.”

BC�T May 31

People . . . continued from pg. 31

Expanded Duties for WPVGA Director of Promotions WPVGA Director of Promotions, Dana Rady, is assuming the responsibilities of the Cooperative Director for the United Potato Growers Cooperative of Wisconsin. The decision comes after Chris Malek’s announcement that he would be pursuing other career opportunities in Colorado.

Rady is happy to be expanding her responsibilities in this area and to add to her knowledge of the industry as well as the market. She says the two positions complement each other quite well in this regard.

While Rady will remain a full-time employee of WPVGA and continue to be based in the WPVGA office, she will maintain an email address used solely for the United Potato Growers Cooperative of Wisconsin correspondence.

Her contact information for the United Potato Growers Cooperative of Wisconsin is as follows: Drady0409@gmail.com Cell: 715-610-6350 Office: 715-623-7683 Fax: 715-623-3176

Obituary for Caroline A. Yeska Caroline A. Yeska, age 79, of Wild Rose passed away on Thursday, March 19, 2015 at her residence. Carol was born in Chicago, IL on June 25, 1935, the daughter of the late Aloysius and Marie (Nowicki) Korczyk. On October 23, 1954, Carol married Edwin Yeska in Heffron and he preceded her in death on February 11, 2003.

She is a member of St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, the church choir, a Wild Rose Library Volunteer and a founding member of the Wild Rose Kiwanis Club serving as club president 2013-2014. Carol enjoyed her life on the farm cooking and baking and raising seven children. Her greatest joy was being part of each of her grandchildren's lives and watching them grow. She was blessed to become a great-grandmother this past year.

Carol is survived by her children: Kathy (Tom) Davies, Plover; Sue (Mark) Strey, Stevens Point; Patty Yeska, Cabin John, MD; Dan (Sharon) Yeska, Wild Rose; Debbie (Bryen) Edwards, Wild Rose; Ken (Carolann) Yeska, 32 BC�T May

Wild Rose; Randy (Megan) Yeska, Waupaca; her grandchildren: Heather (Joe) Schommer, DeForest; Blake Davies, Johnson Creek; Tom (Roxanna) Strey, Menomonie; Wesley (Ashley) Strey, Oregon, WI; Steven, Geoff and Morgan Yeska, Wild Rose; Nicole Yeska, Washington, DC; Kevin Yeska, Verona; David (Rhonda) Yeska, Waupaca; Amy Yeska, Madison; Andrew Yeska, Waupaca; Kelsey (Zach) Sutliff, Fort Collins, CO; Bjorn Asher, Milwaukee and Theodore (Tad) Asher, Waupaca and her great-granddaughter: Priya Strey.

She is further survived by many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Carol was preceded in death by her husband, Edwin; a granddaughter, Laura Davies and a brother, Norbert Korczyk.

The Funeral Mass was Tuesday, March 24 at 10:30 AM at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, Town of Buena Vista with Father Jim Trempe, presiding.

Burial followed in the Hope Cemetery, Town of Belmont. Visitation was

Monday evening from 5 to 8 PM at the Holly Funeral Home in Wild Rose and on Tuesday morning from 9:30 AM until the time of mass at the church.

The family is especially grateful for the wonderful care given our mom by her personal caregivers, Mae and Aldene.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in Carol's name.

"The greatest gift of all is the love of a Mother. Thank you, Mom."

Raising the Bar

‘Chippewa Quality’ Is Premium Plus!

By Ruth Faivre, Managing Editor

BC�T May 33

Raising the Bar. . . continued from pg. 33

Specialty crops. For Chippewa

Valley Bean Co., Inc. (CVB), a family owned and operated agricultural business, those words translate into red kidney beans, which are about as ‘niche market’ as farming can get.

CVB, the largest kidney bean processing facility in North American, handles 40 million pounds of light and dark red kidney beans annually.

Many of these beans are grown by Doane, Ltd., the company’s 4000 acre, seventh-generation family farm, as well as by other growers throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

CVB sells their kidney beans to canning factories, frozen food processors, dry packagers, dehydration plants, health food supplement manufacturers and to animal and pet food processors.

A major exporter, approximately 60% of CVB’s products wing their way internationally throughout Europe and other areas of the world such as Japan, Colombia, Russia as well as developing countries. CVB has been successful expanding their business internationally because of their high degree of quality and customer service.

It is no secret in the world of dark red kidney beans that CVB is recognized for their quality; in fact, it is referred to as ‘Chippewa Quality’. The quality process begins with CVB’s dedication to their growers and continues along the value chain to the end consumer.

CVB has a very close relationship with their growers, readily sharing production knowledge. They have developed harvesting equipment that gently handles kidney beans and

Top: Red kidney beans growing in one of the Doane Ltd. fields. Photo by Bob Brown. Middle: Tricia Kwak, Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc. Plant Manager, examines red kidney beans in the on-site lab to test for canning quality before selling to a canner. Characteristics tested include moisture content, seed coat “checks” or breaks, uniformity of size, color and specification of foreign matter. Canning customers have extremely high requirements for beans they buy, particularly since checks can cause the bean to burst, leading to a mushy, less desirable product. Photo by Ruth Faivre. Bottom: Tricia Kwak checks the beans in the SORTEX Z+ Optical Sorter to determine the purity of red kidney beans on the basis of color, shape or other optical properties while defective items and foreign material are identified and separated from the product stream. Photo by Ruth Faivre.

34 BC�T May

Your source for

Left: Cindy Brown, President of CVB and Doane, Ltd. shown in CVB headquarters. Right: In 1998, Russell Doane, Founder of CVV, received the UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honorary Recognition, poignantly titled, "Russell Doane; Kidney bean wizard and perpetual good neighbor."

Photo by Ruth Faivre.

keeps damage to a minimum, allowing growers to earn premium prices for their beans. CVB also has strong relationships with their end users, sourcing non-traditional cleaning/ processing equipment that helps CVB provide beans to their customer’s exact specifications. In doing so, they have increased quality standards for the entire kidney bean industry.

According to Cindy Brown, President of CVB and Doane, Ltd., “When you entrust us with your kidney beans, our unique process guarantees superior end results. Every step, from removal of foreign material and defective beans, to moisture and skin checks, is thoroughly checked to maintain the utmost standards of quality. We are also known for nurturing an honest, sincere relationship with our growers.

We grade fairly and never deduct more from their yield than absolutely necessary.”

As farmers themselves, CVB’s management staff understands the challenges of a difficult growing season or harvest and believes growers should never be at the mercy of their elevator, but rather genuinely respected by their processor. continued on pg. 36

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Raising the Bar. . . continued from pg. 35

Because CVB produces and packages dark red kidney seed, the Agricultural Resource Management Division (ARM) requires that the company is licensed and conducts regular inspections to ensure their seed is labeled correctly with weight, viability and purity standards and that the seed is viable, accurately labeled and reasonably free of harmful weed seed.

Brown continues, “Another distinctive benefit of using CVB for your kidney bean processing is our specialized HACCP plan that ensures not only quality but product traceability providing security to the end user and creating even more demand for ‘Chippewa Quality’ beans. Food safety is a very important factor for our customers.

“Canners/processors are very insistent on minimal skin checks. We are known for delivering exactly what they want. We pay growers a premium for beans at 18% or less moisture, 5% or less skin checks.” discloses Brown.

“But we accept all types of quality and help our growers find markets even if the beans don’t meet a normal quality. It is our job to clean and sell them. Our growers are at the mercy of the weather; if a hail storm happens or if the beans are too wet, we’ll dry them or do whatever we need to do to locate an appropriate buyer.”

GROWER REACTION Andy Wallendal, Wallendal Supply, Inc., Grand Marsh and President of Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable

Top: Tricia Kwak, Bob Wachsmuth and Gary Bechel stand in front of several bags of dry red kidney beans ready to ship to customers. Photo by Ruth Faivre. Middle: According to Cindy Brown, many prospective canner companies call her and ask for “those super quality beans with the Indian on the bag.” The company’s logo, based on the Chippewa tribes, is almost an icon in the industry. Photo by Bob Brown.

Bottom: Bob Wachsmuth, Kevin Bipes, Field/Shop Manager and Gary Bechel, pose by an original Bob’s Equipment specialized kidney bean combine, which is no longer offered by the Bob’s Equipment Company and is one of many still in operation today. Photo by Ruth Faivre.

36 BC�T May

Growers Association (WPVGA), has direct growing experience with Chippewa Valley Bean Co., Inc. (CVB).

Wallendal describes the interaction, “Back when I was in my mid-teens, our family farm raised red kidney beans for CVB and it was a positive experience. In fact, my father, Pete, became quite good friends with CVB’s founder, Russell Doane.”

“We used specialized harvesting equipment made just for red kidney beans,” states Wallendal. “The equipment is slower moving and the harvesting process is gentler on the delicate red kidney bean skins.

“Ordinary bean harvesting equipment can easily split or otherwise damage (called ‘checking’), the bean skins,” Wallendal explains. “The higher the percentage of ‘checking’ in your delivered loads, the lower the final price you get per hundredweight on red kidney beans.”

“Eventually, our crop mix changed and we went another direction,” Wallendal concludes. “However, I think red kidney beans have good potential as a sustainable crop and I believe CVB is a quality-oriented company doing very well in all phases of their operations.”

In fact, just this year, Wallendal Supply, Inc. returned to the fold with 65 acres of their operation now reserved for growing red kidney beans again for CVB.

Prepping the field to plant kidney beans. Photo by Bob Brown.

in CVB and Doane, Ltd. along with Russell & Nancy’s children, Cindy Brown, Ruth Anne Hofland & Brian Doane. Together with Wachsmuth, the Doane siblings jointly manage the business today.

Doane Ltd., the farming production side of CVB, grows dark red kidney

beans, corn and trades land with a potato producer, which allows them to increase crop rotation. Wheat and rye are used as cover crops to prevent erosion. The farm is managed very similar to irrigated farms in the central sands, utilizing GPS precision agricultural practices. continued on pg. 38

STRONG HISTORY About 40 years ago, CVB founders Russell and Nancy Doane, refocused their traditional livestock farm, Doane Ltd., homesteaded in Dunn County in 1858, from experimenting with cucumbers towards producing red kidney beans on the family's 500 sandy prairie acres. From there, Russell and partner Bob Wachsmuth built relationships with other growers and customers, eventually creating a business that employs 30 and involves several family members.

While a student at UW-Stout, Bob Wachsmuth joined Russell & Nancy in 1969. Today he is a shareholder BC�T May 37

Raising the Bar. . . continued from pg. 37

Time to plant kidney beans! Photo by Bob Brown.

While not actively involved in dayto-day operations, Russell Doane still maintains his office at CVB headquarters and spends a great deal of time there.

PASSIONATE LEADER Cindy Brown, a 2013 Wisconsin Women in Government Women of Achievement award, is a staunch supporter of the Pulse Crops and Dry Edible Beans industry, serving previously as President of the US Dry Bean Council and a member of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Board. She often performs as an expert witness and industry spokesperson to state and federal governmental bodies on behalf of the agricultural world.

Highly involved with exporting, Brown is expert at developing new markets, particularly European (United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, France and Italy) and emerging nations, and finding outlets for all types of kidney beans even 38 BC�T May

those of lesser skin quality that can be used in soups, dry mixes, pastes or similar products.

According to Brown, CVB’s output is distributed in these segments: 80% dark reds – North American Market, 16% light reds – Hispanic, 2-3% of both types are exported.

“Doing business with European Community countries is easy because beans are traded openly,” states Brown. “Learning other markets involves understanding the price and quality matrix as well as phytosanitary concerns, which can be used as barriers to trade.”

Brown recently announced that CVB won the 2015 Governor’s Export Achievement Award, which will be awarded on May 7, 2015. CVB previously won the award in 1991.

Beyond the time she devotes to the family businesses and the industry, Brown is committed to helping those suffering from hunger and poverty around the world as is her entire family and CVB. Through Food for

the Poor, she and CVB helped build a school after the hurricane in Haiti.

“I believe that helping children to receive an education is the surest way to break the cycle of poverty,” said Brown. “Given the great need for schools in Haiti, we contributed, along with our growers, to help provide a place where children can receive both an education and a nutritious meal.”

“This is one of the most meaningful gifts Chippewa Valley could have given us,” said Robin Mahfood, President/ CEO of Food for the Poor. “It is our determination to build and re-build as many sturdy school structures as possible, so that the children can have a sense of normalcy while the adults work on rebuilding their homeland.”

Along with its growers, CVB recently raised $15,000 for World Food Program USA, which will be used to provide school meals to boys and girls in the world’s poorest classrooms.

This amount will be able to feed up to 300 boys and girls for an entire school year.

Previously, as Chair of the Food Aid Committee of the US Dry Bean Council, Brown traveled to Africa three times to meet with international food aid organizations and determine how the industry could help address the continent's needs in the face of serious drought. Brown helped establish a first-of-its-kind micro farm in Ghana using a concept called ‘monetization’.

"Monetization involves taking an agricultural commodity, selling it, and using the proceeds to fund other humanitarian programs such as drilling wells, establishing a loan fund for farmers, teaching hygiene, buying books for schools and so on," Brown explains.

GROWER RELATIONS Together, CVB and the individual growers work out full production contracts based on acres with all the beans to be delivered to CVB. CVB normally prices 10/CWT weight per acre at the time they contract; the grower prices the balance of the production after delivering the beans.

Brown says, “Many growers have their own trucks and deliver themselves.

Other times, we help growers find trucks. We try to provide whatever service our growers need.”

Once the beans are delivered, CVB’s processing plant cleans and processes the crop to their customer’s specifications. Once cleaned the beans are then packed in bulk or bags and shipped all over the world.

CULTURE REQUIREMENTS As with any other crop farmer’s effective cultural practices; inputs and physical conditions all affect the red kidney bean crop yield. It starts with the soil, which needs to be suitable for red kidney bean production. An adequate fertilizer, weed and insect control program are vitally important as well.

Kidney beans grow best on well drained soils and do not adapt well to

You know its kidney bean harvest time when the specialized Pickett Twin Master Combine gets ready to go to the field.

Photo by Bob Brown.

heavy clay soils, nor do they tolerate water logging. Generally, kidney beans follow hay, wheat, corn and are quite suitable for a potato rotational crop.

Water usage for kidneys is half that of either a corn crop or a potato crop.

Unlike soybeans followed by potatoes, there are very few conflicts growing kidney beans versus potatoes. Kidney beans are a legume like soybeans, but they nodulate very little nitrogen so there are few “N” credits to use for a following crop.

However, potato growers like to

N V S

ELSON’S

GROWING SEASON Bob Wachsmuth relates that, “raw input costs run $400-$450per acre.

This does not include land cost, overhead, capital investment or other continued on pg. 40

N7158 6TH DRIVE P.O. BOX 215 PLAINFIELD, WI 54966 OFFICE: (715) 335-6660 FAX: (715) 335-6661

EGETABLE

KEEP ON TRACK WITH OUR

TORAGE

S

follow kidney beans because of the limited residue left over from kidney bean crop harvesting. Kidney beans, potatoes and corn all have different types of diseases that they are susceptible to so they work well in rotation with each other.

YSTEMS INC. SPROUT INHIBITORS AND DISINFECTANTS

STORAGE VENTILATION

SPROUT INHIBITING

• COMPUTERIZED CONTROL PANELS • HUMIDIFICATION • REFRIGERATION

• NEW & ALTERNATIVE METHODS • SMART BLOCK APPLICATIONS • CIPC, CLOVE OIL APPLICATIONS

AGRI-VENTILATION SALES AND SERVICE 24 HR. EMERG. SERVICE

BC�T May 39

Raising the Bar. . . continued from pg. 39

Established in 1858, the original Doane Ltd. homestead transformed into a huge operation, the largest kidney bean processing facility in North America. Photo by Bob Brown.

associated factors. The average yield for red kidney beans is 2,000 pounds/ acre.”

Like other crops, kidney beans require animal nutrients and or other fertilizers to feed and nourish the plants as they grow. Herbicides and pesticides help control and eliminate weeds and pests and irrigation helps manage weather risk from lack of rainfall.

As far as the growing season, Wachsmuth relates that it is, “8595 days maturity for light red kidney beans and 90-100 days maturity for dark red kidney beans. Planting occurs mid-May to mid-June and harvest runs from September 1 thru October 15.”

Kidney beans are harvested when they are wetter to reduce ‘shattering’ the bean pods. Growers also harvested earlier to avoid skin checks or wrinkling effects.

Harvest preparation actually begins far before September when the plants begin to ripen. The weed control and tillage practices growers employ the preceding year sets the stage for a smoother harvest.

Wachsmuth clarifies, “You need 40 BC�T May

to control tough weeds like lambs quarter, red root, and nightshade the year before you plant red kidney beans. If you end up with too many weeds, beans become much more difficult to combine.”

EXTRA CARE Harvest is the only time when specialized equipment is required.

Wachsmuth does not advise using conventional combines since kidney bean seeds crack easily and the low hanging bean pods easily shatter, diminishing the crop yield because of field losses.

Specialized combines run only 2-1/2 miles per hour, much slower than conventional combines, which helps avoid harvesting damage, a common cause of dockage or rejection at the processor.

Wachsmuth suggests growers buy only new specialized combines from Pickett Equipment, Burley, ID, which are built in Brazil to Pickett Equipment's specifications.

The Pickett One Step cuts and windrows beans in an efficient onepass system, pulling the roots and entire plant right out of the ground, followed by the combine, “but you do

not want to get too far ahead of the combine with the Pickett One Step or cut more beans than you can harvest that day,” suggests Wachsmuth.

Pickett Equipment also manufactures platforms and pickup heads for any conventional combine or various pull-type combines on the market.

Pickett's universal platform has special auger features to feed the combine evenly. Elongated holes (rather than round holes) in the platform's bottom removes a high percentage of dirt.

PEOPLE DIFFERENCE 156 years after the family farm’s humble beginnings, CVB has evolved into an internationally recognized, first class agri-business. For CVB, the emphasis never changed and remains centered on the people; their family, employees, growers, customers and the consumers, who have the final say in the demands for their premium quality red kidney beans.

Brown sums it up, “Wholesome food, consumer protection, fair business practices, healthy people, plants and animals and a clean environment are all elements of the sustainable future our company envisions and practices.”

NPC News Food Safety Guideline Manual Now Available for Download National Potato Council posted the Commodity-Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production, Harvest, Storage, and Packing of Potatoes on their website, www. nationalpotatocouncil.org, for free, easy download.

It is available for industry members to help ensure the continued safety of U.S. grown potatoes. This document offers food safety guidance for all companies that produce, harvest, store, pack and transport potatoes.

It also serves as a basic guideline to harmonize all existing food safety programs in how they assess and address food safety hazards. The guidelines are broken down into four sections: I) General Practices, II) Production and Harvest Operations, III) Storage Unit Operations and IV) Packinghouse Unit Operations.

Each section lists a set of best practices to address potential food safety issues associated with those specific operations.

Separating Fact from Fiction The WIC/Potato Debate Since USDA proposed its rule to allow all fresh fruits and vegetables – except white potatoes – to be included in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the U.S. potato industry has worked to educate federal decision makers about the benefits of also allowing nutritious potatoes into the program.

Some individuals point to a 2005 report by the Institute of Medicine, which used now-obsolete nutritional recommendations and outdated consumption data from the mid1990s to justify excluding potatoes from the program.

U.S. potato growers believe that USDA should base its nutritional policies on today’s science and the most up-todate consumption data.

Potatoes contain high amounts of potassium and dietary fiber, two vital nutrients that are under-consumed by WIC-participating mothers and their children and at $0.19 per serving, help participants stretch their WIC vouchers.

Since WIC participants are not meeting their recommended intake levels of starchy vegetables, as identified in USDA’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, adding potatoes to

the program will help eliminate that consumption gap.

Since WIC vouchers can be used to purchase potatoes at farmers markets but not at grocery stores, removing the ban on the purchase of fresh white potatoes in grocery stores adds consistency to the program and eliminates confusion.

Visit the National Potato Council website for more myths vs. realities in the WIC/potato debate.

BC�T May 41

WPC Keynote Address

CIP Director General to Deliver Timely Message Dr. Barbara H. Wells, the Director General of CIP, the International Potato Centre, Peru, will deliver the keynote speech for the 9th World Potato Congress (WPC) scheduled to be held for July 28-30, 2015 in Yanqing, Beijing, China.

in Agronomy, from Oregon State University.

Dr. Wells has over 30 years’ experience in developing commercial, technical and regulatory strategies for the launch of conventional seed and seedling products, including renewable energy products related to crop protection and plant technology in agricultural and forestry markets throughout the world. She has a Ph.D.,

From 2002-2012, Dr. Wells served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ArborGen, Inc., a global forestry tree seedling, and tree breeding business. She led the transformation of the organization from a tissue culture start-up company to a fully operational business with over $30 million in revenues and commercial

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Speaking on “The Role of the Potato for Global Food Security," Dr. Wells is recognized as a seasoned senior executive with extensive domestic and international leadership and management expertise.

Her previous post was Vice President Global Strategy, Agrivida, Inc., a firm that develops feed-stocks for the production of biofuels and bioproducts from non-food agricultural residues and dedicated biomass crops. This was preceded by a term as President of BHW Enterprise, a company specialized in providing consulting services in agriculture and renewable energy. sales of over 250 million tree seedlings.

Prior to joining ArborGen, Dr. Wells was Vice President responsible for growth initiatives and investments in Latin America for Emergent Genetics, an agricultural investment firm.

Throughout her career, Dr. Wells has worked with farmers and applied her science to improve the productivity of the farmer, and framing science, for applied solutions at the farmer level.

Dr. Wells grew up in Peru and Bolivia, was based in Brazil for several years and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

Her move to CIP corresponds with her ambition to improve the livelihoods of the world's poor farmers, and to drive forward the mission of CIP in rural development.

Given the growing global demand for the potato as a staple food, and the ever increasing need for improved food security, Barbara's message is one you will not want to miss. See her in person at the 9th WPC. To register for the 9th WPC, click on the following URL or copy and paste into your search engine: www.2015bjwpc. com.

Seed Piece State Farm Tour The UW Lelah Starks Elite Foundation Seed Potato Farm, also known as the State Farm, will conduct a public tour on July 17, 2015, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The tour will encompass a visit of the facilities, including a field tour, presentations plus time to visit with friends and neighbors who are also attending. There will be a professional photographer present to take group photos after the field tour.

Popular catering firm, Swine & Dine, Antigo, WI, will prepare and serve a free lunch sponsored by Wisconsin & Potato Growers Association (WPVGA) Associate Division. Frontier-Servco FS will provide free beverages.

The State Farm, located west of Rhinelander Wisconsin on County Highway K, supplies Wisconsin Certified Seed Potato Growers and University of Wisconsin researchers with Elite Foundation early generation seed potatoes on a fee-for-service basis.

The potatoes grown on the State Farm originate from the production of in-vitro plantlets initiated, tested and multiplied at the Biotron, a secure laboratory facility located at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

These pathogen-free pre-nuclear plantlets are then transported to the State Farm.

These first production cycle plantlets are raised in insect excluding greenhouses on the farm. The plantlets produce mini-tubers, which are planted the following year to produce the first field crop.

One or two elite field generations follow. Highly skilled seed certification

Front Row (L to R) Ryan Fourt, Rick Hafner, Brooke Babler, Kevin Bula, Dianna Kessler, Andy Witherell. Second Row (L to R) Jim Meyer, Mike Wells, Terry Rolefson, George Neuber, Roger Reader, Dr. Amy Charkowski, Jerry Kuczmarski, Jolene Spurgeon. Back Row (L to R) Rosemary Heinzen, Keith Heinzen, Alex Crockford

inspectors direct removal of inferior or diseased plants on a weekly basis up to the time of tuber bulking.

Subsequently, the resulting seed tubers are either sold or multiplied for a second year in the field. Introduction of disease is kept to a minimum by strict sanitation, isolation, best

management practices and a rigorous spray program.

Greenhouse and field grown tubers can be purchased by Wisconsin certified seed potato growers through the Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program, Antigo, WI, 715-623-4039.

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WPIB Focus Wisconsin Potato Assessment Collections: Two-Year Comparison Month

Jul-13

Aug-13

Sep-13

Oct-13

Nov-13

Dec-13

Jan-14

Feb-14

Mar-14

Apr-14

May-14

Jun-14

Year-to-Date

CWT

1,245,187.84

561,590.05

991,078.83

3,114,438.10

2,627,700.74

2,160,770.84

1,872,969.27

1,976,498.93

1,958,659.50

16,508,894.10

Assessment

$74,679.68

$33,695.37

$59,464.80

$186,867.82

$157,665.35

$129,645.84

$112,268.32

$118,698.94

$117,449.69

$990,435.81

Jul-14

Aug-14

Sep-14

Oct-14

Nov-14

Dec-14

Jan-15

Feb-15

Mar-15

Month

Apr-15

May-15

Jun-15

Year-to-Date

CWT

1,618,594.66

584,167.62

1,071,362.65

3,145,808.22

2,930,799.68

2,055,822.91

1,632,134.39

2,314,996.35

1,657,022.61

17,010,709.09

Assessment

$97,295.75

$35,049.99

$64,101.70

$188,748.83

$175,821.97

$123,346.96

$97,909.10

$138,906.57

$99,470.40

$1,020,651.27

Potato Board News United States Potato Board Elects New Leadership at 2015 Annual Meeting DENVER (April 6, 2015)—The United States Potato Board (USPB) grower membership elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting held in Colorado Springs, CO, March 1012. The following sections list the leadership for the coming year.

CHAIRMAN Carl Hoverson (Larimore, ND) DOMESTIC MARKETING Co-Chairmen Chris Wada (Idaho Falls, ID) John Halverson (Arbyrd, MO)

The USPB Executive Committee (from left to right): Nolan Masser, Brian Kirschenmann, John Halverson, Marty Myers, Carl Hoverson, Blair Richardson, Karlene Hardy, Brett Jensen, Phil Hickman, Ken Burback, Mike Pink and Chris Wada.

44 BC�T May

Committee Members Marilyn Dolan-Public Member (Watsonville, CA) Molly Connors (Pasco, WA) John Stahl (Ritzville, WA) Brian Jones (Paul, ID) Steve Elfering (Idaho Falls, ID) David Tonso (Center, CO)

Dan Chin (Klamath Falls, OR) Merrill Hanny (Idaho Falls, ID) RESEARCH Co-Chairmen Brian Kirschenmann (Bakersfield, CA) Karlene Hardy (Oakley, ID) Committee Members Steve Gangwish (Watertown, SD) Craig Searle (Idaho Falls, ID) Brandon Schaapman (Quincy, WA) Chris Hansen (Bliss, NY) Eric Schroeder (Antigo, WI) IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN Brett Jensen (Idaho Falls, ID)

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING Co-Chairmen Marty Myers (Boardman, OR) Mike Pink (Mesa, WA) Committee Members Justin Dagen (Karlstad, MN) Kurt Holland (Center, CO) Doug Poe (Connell, WA) Marvin Wollman (Warden, WA) Rex Calloway (Quincy, WA) Dirk Parkinson (Saint Anthony, ID) Lynn Wilcox (Rexburg, ID) Jerry Tominaga (Rupert, ID) Weston Walker (Tulelake, CA) INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS

& POLICY Co-Chairmen Nolan Masser (Pitman, PA) Ken Burback (Center, CO) Jay LaJoie (Van Buren, ME) Laura Huddle (Napoleon, OH) Katie Floming (Savanna, IL) Keith Doyen (Mapleton, ME) Sanjiv Kakkar (Trenton, NJ) FINANCE Chairman Phil Hickman (Horntown, VA) Committee Members Bill Grose (Terra Alta, WV) Casey Hoverson (Larimore, ND)

USPB Board Unanimously Supports Salad Bar Challenge USPB President & CEO Blair Richardson addressed Board Members, regarding the “Potato Friendly” Salad Bar Challenge, answering questions regarding this “never before attempted” initiative he unveiled January 8, 2015, at the 2015 POTATO EXPO in Orlando, FL. “We want the potato industry and this Board to question this salad bar challenge and come out in the end with a product everyone helped create,” Richardson explained. “We know salad bars are used in schools. We also know that to date, no single agriculture promotion group has stepped forward to promote these.

Newly-elected USPB Domestic Marketing Committee Co-Chair, John Halverson, Chief Operating Officer, Black Gold Farms noted, “This is a win for all parties involved in that we are helping teach young people what to eat to be healthy. With the USPB’s participation in the program, we will

also have a platform to tout potatoes’ health benefits by working with nutritionists and others responsible for school lunch rooms every day.

“This is an opportunity to tell the story of the healthy potato to school age kids, and by doing so, also creating eating continued on pg. 46

“It’s important to understand while it’s easy to find ways this initiative will not work; it is just as easy to find ways in which it can work. There’s a wide range of school lunch needs and opportunities out there. Sure, we are going to find schools where this salad bar challenge won’t work. It won’t be a solution for everybody. But we want to go to schools that have the greatest potential. Right now, this is a discovery and learning process.”

BC�T May 45

Potato Board News . . . continued from pg. 45

habits that are healthy and include potatoes. Hopefully, in the long run, this will increase potato consumption along with improving the image of the potato,” Halverson remarked.

The proof of concept for “Potato Friendly” Salad Bars is currently in a testing phase. The Colorado Potato Administrative Committee worked with the USPB in late 2014 to place two salad bars into one Denver-area school district. The district now has salad bars in nine of its 16 schools. Results from this experiment will be released to the potato industry at the USPB’s 2015 Summer Meeting in August.

“We will learn a lot between now and then,” Richardson declared. “We will report back after we’ve had a chance to learn and determine how to make this work, and we will be a lot smarter by August. We don’t have all the answers yet because this is new and untried.”

Halverson added, “The stigma that potatoes are one of the foods that make you fat, and/or is unhealthy, is one of the challenges we have to overcome.

Through promoting healthy recipes and by making potatoes prepared and available on the salad bars in a variety of ways will help to promote this.”

Richardson explained, “Funding the Salad Bar Challenge with $1.3 million in the USPB budget does not mean the money will be automatically spent. The staff and USPB members will be good stewards on behalf of the industry, and will sensibly commit limited USPB financial resources towards research and testing.”

Also in attendance, National Potato Council Executive Vice President, John Keeling, commented in support of the industry’s effort to introduce potato friendly salad bars in school lunch programs: “Our goal is to establish nutrition as the new measuring stick in the school lunch program, and relieve the focus on specific foods or food groups,” he said. “Right now, there are no upper limits on potatoes in the school lunch program. As a nutritious vegetable that is economical for schools, and liked by students, potatoes can play a greater role in meeting actual nutrition goals in school lunches.”

In further business, the Board also instructed USPB Marketing Department staff to utilize $400,000 from the Domestic Marketing budget to support the salad bars in the schools. The funds are to be used to

provide recipes, serving suggestions, decorations and other materials to the schools throughout the country that have or will receive the salad bars to help them incorporate healthy potato items on the bars. To accomplish this objective, the USPB will be issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for consultants or agencies that can work with the staff to develop the messages, recipes and materials.

Halverson summarized what most Board Members were also saying, “I believe this will complement the current activities of the USPB by broadening our target audience outside the typical retail shopper we are already targeting. Kids are big influencers of what mom buys at the grocery store, so by showing kids how many wonderful potato dishes there are, both hot and cold, we will be turning them on to help mom grab that bag of potatoes. This is a great new program that is truly thinking outside the box…potatoes, salad bars, and school kids, who would have thought this could come together to promote and tell our story!

To realize this program’s full potential of providing school children with healthy potato dishes, as well as improving the positive image of potatoes with this key group of influencers and future consumer decision makers, all sectors of the industry, from input suppliers and manufacturers to the marketing chain, need to work together to donate at least 300 salad bars this summer for the 2015/2016 school year.

For more information and to see how you can become involved in donating a salad bar to be matched by USPB, please visit the USPB’s Salad Bar Challenge web page. To ask specific questions, or to start the process of donating a salad bar, please visit the Staff Directory page on uspotatoes. com to speak with any member of the Marketing or Industry Communications & Policy teams.

46 BC�T May

Meeting Planner & Assistant Marketing Manager Join USPB Team The United States Potato Board (USPB) hired Caitlin Mueller as Meeting Planner and Renee O’Brien as Assistant Marketing Manager.

Mueller recently served as Meeting & Event Planner for The Planners, Denver, CO, where she handled coordination of full and partial event management including registration management, creation of event promotional materials, vendor management, hotel contracting and negotiations, establishing event timeline and follow through, speaker arrangements and food and beverage planning. Prior to that, Mueller served as Account Executive & Meeting Planner with Summit Meetings, Inc., also of Denver. Mueller graduated with a B.A. in Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management from Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO, in May 2009. Mueller maintains active membership in the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association.

Renee O’Brien joins USPB, from Willis of Denver, CO, where she served as Receptionist/Assistant Client Services Specialist. In her previous role, O’Brien responded to customer inquiries and requests concerning benefits, claims and complaints in

Caitlin Mueller

Renee O’Brien

order to ensure high quality customer service to members and providers, directed visitors by maintaining employee and department directories, handled inbound calls and assisted on projects. Previous employment included positions as a service representative with companies in Michigan. O’Brien graduated with a Bachelor of Science, Public Relations and Advertising, in August 2006 from Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI.

BC�T May 47

Now for the News WPVGA Returns To Tundra Increased Support For 2015 For the second straight season, the TUNDRA Super Late Model Series will be “Powered by Wisconsin Potatoes.”

Officials from the series and the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) renewed their partnership in March.

the organization. Through inclusion at race events, appearances and social media campaigns TUNDRA teams and fans were educated to the benefits of supporting Wisconsin growers.

“This season we look to increase that interaction with the WPVGA.

“We’re thrilled to welcome back the WPVGA,” said TUNDRA representative Matt Panure. “Their support was crucial to helping us grow as a series last season. They were a fantastic addition to our program, and we look forward to continue promoting a true Wisconsin organization.”

We have some fun ideas that will get the fans involved and will enhance their experience at the race track,” Panure said.

Last season the WPVGA jumped on board as an associate sponsor. Officials from their marketing committee worked closely with TUNDRA officials to increase brand awareness and promote 48 BC�T May

Fans can expect to see the popular Wisconsin Spudmobile at TUNDRA events again this season. The Spudmobile drew plenty of attention in its appearances at TUNDRA events last year, hosting interactive games and providing plenty of information about the benefits of the WPVGA.

The Spudmobile made appearances at other events such as Farm Tech Days and Packer game tailgate parties.

Dean’s Satellite and Security Rookie of the Year ,Reagan May, was on hand to display her car at a December tailgate with the Spudmobile. TUNDRA intends to show its support to the WPVGA by getting involved in more similar outside cross-promotional events similar.

A renewed partnership comes with increased support from the WPVGA. This extra support will trickle directly to the teams and allow TUNDRA to raise the purse at each event.

“Extra support has always been a key to our program,” Panure said. “We do what we can to keep our costs down and rely heavily on sponsor support.

Thanks to WPVGA, we will have some extra funds to pass on to our drivers at each race this season.”

The first event of the 2015 TUNDRA Super Late Model Series season is scheduled for Saturday, May 9 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wis. The first green flag will drop at 2 p.m. More details on the event will be announced soon.

Headquartered in Antigo, WPVGA helps its grower members conduct and utilize the latest research and technologies, garner government support, produce environmentally sound research and stay in touch with consumers.

The Unified Northern Drivers Racing Association (TUNDRA) Super Late Model Series was formed in 2011 as the Alive for Five Super Late Model Series at Dells Raceway Park. TUNDRA’s business plan is based on a sustainable program for promoters and race teams alike, while still providing high-quality Super Late Model entertainment to fans.

For more information on TUNDRA including news, results and the 2014 standings, archived results and standings, and more visit www. tundrasuperlates.com. Also, interact with us on Facebook (facebook.com/ TundraSuperLateModels) or Twitter (@TUNDRAslms). continued on pg. 50

Great Blue Heron Plover River, Iverson Park, Stevens Point, WI

Imagine owning this Pete Sanderson Limited Edition print!

Renowned photographer, Pete Sanderson, personally prints and signs each 11”x17” pigmented ink jet print on cotton paper.

This Great Blue Heron print is $40.00/each until June 31, 2015. Prints can be picked up at Koerten’s Fine Framing & Gifts or delivered direct (add $10.00 if you prefer it shipped to you).

Pete Sanderson’s Photo Commentary: “I originally went to Iverson Park in spring, hoping to image a number of the park buildings. Instead, I found this Great Blue Heron highlighted by early morning light, peeking through the fog on the Plover River. This was one of those days when luck produced a great image.”

To order, contact Koerten’s Fine Framing & Gifts: (715) 341-7773, sales@koertens.com or visit 2501 Church St, Stevens Point, WI 54481.

Many other Pete Sanderson images available at Koerten’s!

BC�T May 49

Now for the News . . . continued from pg. 49

Bunge purchases snack pellet Heartland Harvest Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), announced that it has purchased the assets of Heartland Harvest, Inc., a North American leader in the production of die cut pellets used to make extruded foods. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been released.

Heartland Harvest produces die cut pellets made of a variety of starches which are then expanded through popping, baking or frying to create extruded food products. The company

has one facility in Kankakee, Illinois.

"Consumer demand for innovative and healthier foods is growing and HHI ingredients can be used to make better for you snacks," said Wade Ellis, general manager, Bunge Milling. "This facility also has the flexibility to use starches such as ancient grains and sweet potatoes as well as corn, rice and potatoes, expanding the product portfolio we can offer our customers."

Bunge expects to keep a majority of the employees currently working at the plant.

INNATE™ Potato Receives FDA Safety Clearance Varieties Contain Beneficial Traits Without Foreign Genes The J. R. Simplot Company today completed the food and feed safety consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first generation of Innate™ potato varieties.

The FDA concluded the Innate potato is as safe and nutritious as conventional potatoes.

Simplot is working with growers and retailers to bring the U.S. market several popular potato varieties with improved traits that benefit consumers, food producers, and growers. Innate potatoes have fewer black spots from bruising, stay whiter longer when cut or peeled and have lower levels of naturally-occurring asparagine, resulting in less acrylamide when cooked at high temperatures.

Innate potatoes are also less prone to pressure bruising during storage, resulting in less potato waste and potentially millions of dollars in savings to growers every year.

Because the Innate potato provides significant benefits consumers want, including less bruising, less waste and more convenience, Simplot will 50 BC�T May

recommend to growers and retail partners that they accurately promote and market these exclusive features on relevant packaging.

The FDA statement comes after the recent U. S. Department of Agriculture deregulation of Innate potatoes. The FDA’s safety consultation on Innate potatoes was voluntarily requested by Simplot as a further evaluation of the Innate technology which has been in development for more than a decade.

not been possible using traditional breeding.”

These federal clearances involved years of technical review and a thorough public comment period that drew the support of 14 leading potato research universities in the U.S. and Europe.

Simplot used the techniques of modern biotechnology to accelerate the traditional breeding process and introduce new traits by triggering the potato’s own RNA interference (RNAi) pathway.

“The Innate potato is the most promising advancement in the potato industry I have seen in my 30 years studying agriculture,” said David S. Douches, Ph.D. at the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University who implemented field trials of Innate. “This potato delivers significant health and sustainability benefits, all by using the potato’s own DNA. Such advancements have

RNAi is a natural cellular process commonly used by plants and animals to modulate expression of certain genes, and has been used effectively in multiple commercial crops sold over the last decade. “Unlike traditional methods of breeding which introduce random mutations associated with dozens of genes, the method used to develop Innate potatoes is precise,” said Douches.

The three Innate varieties are expected to be available in limited quantities beginning in 2015 in the fresh and fresh-cut markets where the sustainability, higher quality and health benefits have significant value to growers and consumers.

A second generation of Innate potatoes, currently under review by the USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, will offer two additional improvements to the potato, including increased resistance to late blight disease and better storability. These advantages will create significant sustainability advances, such as reduced reliance on fungicides and fewer rejected potatoes.

“The potato is an important and nutritious food staple, but susceptible

to damage when grown and stored,” said Haven Baker, vice president and general manager of Simplot Plant Sciences. “Innate has the potential to reduce post-harvest food waste and help meet the demand for better, more sustainable crops in the years ahead.” For more information, visit www.SimplotPlantSciences.com.

Salad Bars Donated to 1,000 California Schools Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools Milestone Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S) announced that salad bars have been donated to more than 1,000 California schools. The salad bars benefit more than 700,000 students every day by increasing their access to fresh fruits and vegetables at school lunch. The Golden State leads the nation with the most salad bars in schools.

The announcement was made at an education and agriculture forum in Salinas, CA with Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department of Education, a champion of school salad bars. Three years ago, Superintendent Torlakson challenged LMSB2S to reach the goal of 1,000 California schools. That goal has now been surpassed – 1,018 schools from all over the state receiving salad bars.

Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin, Vice President Community Development, Taylor Farms Inc., and a co-chair of United Fresh Produce Association’s 2013 Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools campaign, made this announcement: “On behalf of the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign, I’m thrilled to announce today that salad bars have now been donated to more than 1,000 California schools. The salad bars benefit more than 700,000 California students every day by increasing their access to a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, many grown right here

in the Salinas Valley.

Three years ago, Superintendent Torlakson, you set a goal of 1,000.

LMSB2S has surpassed that goal – 1,018 CA schools have now received salad bars from LMSB2S! Thank you for your leadership. And, thank you to my colleagues in the produce and grocery industry, and to California health and business foundations for their generous contributions to reach this important milestone for our kids.

“At a time when most children still eat less than half of the daily amount of fruits and vegetables recommended for good health, school salad bars are a powerful tool to increase student’s

fruit and vegetable consumption.

Salad bars are also one of the easiest ways for schools to meet the new school lunch standards, which require serving a greater variety and amount of fruits and vegetables every day,” said Dr. Lorelei DiSogra, Vice President, Nutrition & Health, United Fresh Produce Association. “We very much appreciate our partnership with Superintendent Torlakson and his staff at the California Department of Education. Nationwide, more than 4,000 schools have received salad bars from Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools.” For more information about how schools can apply for a salad bar, visit www.saladbars2schools.org.

HAFNER SEED FARMS, INC. W8243 CTH B BRYANT, WI 54418

WISCONSIN

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• Atlantic • Snowden • Superior • Goldrush • Norkotah • Red Norland • Silverton

Phone: 715-623-6829 Fax: 715-623-4203 BC�T May 51

New Products Harvest Potatoes without Unwanted Debris

By Spudnik Equipment Company LLC Spudnik Equipment Company LLC, Blackfoot, Idaho offers the 991 AirSep Eliminator for removing stones, rocks, clods, and other debris from potatoes.

The machine uses high volume air and a patented design to remove the debris from the flow of product. At the 2013 Agritechnica show, Hannover,

Germany, the AirSep concept won one of the four gold medals for product innovation out of 393 entries. The machine continues to evolve and new options added to meet the needs of growers in a variety of soil conditions.

The stationary AirSep eliminator proved to be a great tool in both the

spring and fall to eliminate debris coming out of and into storage. The AirSep technology is also integrated into a harvester, available in 2-row and 3-row machines. Available at Big Iron Equipment Inc, (715) 344-3401, Plover, WI, www.bigironequipment.com.

Syngenta names newest fungicide Orondis™ Syngenta announced that the trade name for its newest fungicide, containing the active ingredient (a.i.) oxathiapiprolin, is Orondis™. Orondis offers protection against late blight, downy mildews and Phytophthora root and stem blights Registration sought for use on vegetables, potatoes and tobacco.

52 BC�T May

“Orondis offers a new, highly effective approach to disease management,” said Bernd Druebbisch, fungicide product lead, Syngenta. “Growers will soon have an opportunity to experience the same outstanding protection against economically devastating diseases, including late blight, downy mildews and root and stem rots, as we have witnessed in field trials.”

Orondis fungicide will offer U.S. growers effective control of economically important soil and foliar diseases caused by Oomycete fungi in vegetables, potatoes and tobacco. In addition, Orondis features: • A new mode of action (FRAC Group U15) with no known cross-resistance to other products

• S ystemic, translaminar movement and redistribution to protect developing leaves • Excellent preventive fungicidal activity • Rain-fastness within 30 minutes of application

• Flexible application methods and tank mix compatibility • Efficacy at very low a.i. rates and demonstrated crop safety • The ability to act as a foundation fungicide in integrated pest management (IPM) programs

“Compared to other fungicides, Orondis brings a paradigm shift in Oomycete disease control with 10-100 times lower a.i. rate and consistent efficacy,” said Paul Kuhn, fungicide technical product lead, Syngenta. www.syngenta-us.com

New Enhanced Drive Bulk Bed

By Spudnik Equipment Company LLC Spudnik has supplied the industry with quality bulk beds for over 35 years. The new model 4400 Bulk Bed joins model 4200, which has been the industry standard for many years.

The 4400 is completely redesigned with a new look and enhanced drive system. A 30-inch wide discharge belt is standard and offered in lengths from 20-26 feet. The bed has a full-length hydraulically operated side door for easy loading in the field and a hydraulic end door to meter the flow of product out of the bed. The unloading speed is optimized with the torque required to unload the bed. The unloading belt starts out slow providing the most amount of torque required and then automatically speeds up as the continued on pg. 54 torque requirement

decreases

What do you expect from the seed potatoes that you buy?

The varieties that yo

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The early generation that you want.

The quality and yie ld you have come to that expect.

Wisconsin has it!

For a directory of Wisconsin Certified Seed Potato Growers or a free video, contact:

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Wisconsin Seed Potato Improvement Association, Inc. P.O. Box 173, Antigo, WI 54409 715-623-4039 www.potatoseed.org

View a directory of the Wisconsin Certified Seed Potato Growers on your smartphone.

BC�T May 53

New Products . . . continued from pg. 53

HarvestMaster’s New H2 GrainGage™ Designed for Ag Research HarvestMaster’s new H2 High Capacity GrainGage is designed to collect data on large-plot, high-volume grain samples, and offers enhanced efficiency and data accuracy for agricultural field researchers.

Available for both single and split-plot combines, the H2 GrainGage features advanced technology to provide superior data accuracy, enhanced efficiency, and reduced maintenance for users. The system utilizes patented slope and motion sensors to minimize data errors due to combine movement and ground slope. This way, the H2 may continue to collect high-accuracy data without the operator needing to stop the combine.

The H2 also features a new, streamlined design, with a new weighing system that can collect test weight, moisture, and plot weight measurements simultaneously, drastically reducing cycle time. The H2’s design is based in part on HarvestMaster’s industryproven Classic GrainGage, which helps move grain cleanly in and out of the chambers, further improving data

accuracy and reducing maintenance.

“With the new advancements in the H2 GrainGage, field researchers can collect more accurate data in less time,” said Allen Wilson, HarvestMaster’s Market Manager. “HarvestMaster engineers

have worked hard to incorporate these benefits into the new design, and we are very pleased with the results.”

Visit HarvestMaster’s website, www. harvestmaster.com to learn more about the H2 GrainGage.

BioSafe Systems Introduces ARRET Sprout Treatment ARRET Sprout Treatment has been approved by the US EPA for fresh pack line treatments, as well as fogging treatment applications. This new, innovative chemistry utilizes a green and sustainable fatty acid formulation that burns down sprouts on contact.

This highly cost-efficient and effective product provides potato growers with a new tool to enhance quality 54 BC�T May

and storage life of potatoes, in turn increasing yield and bottom line.

For in-storage potatoes, ARRET can be applied by any type of thermal fogger whenever potatoes are peeping, preventing any further sprouting. Its fatty acid chemistry is made up of completely food-safe ingredients and has no use restrictions.

ARRET can also stop sprouts in their tracks on fresh-market potatoes.

ARRET is easily dispersed in water and should be applied as a low-volume spray bar application when potatoes are being prepped for packaging. For more on ARRET, contact National Potato Manager Mark Milenski at mmilenski@biosafesystems.com or call 970-396-8825.

Marketplace 2015 Promotions Retreat Sets New Standards

By Dana Rady, WPVGA Director of Promotions and Consumer Education It is amazing how fast time flies, isn’t it? It’s even more amazing to look back and ponder all of the events that took place over the previous year.

It has been an incredible ride for the Promotions Committee, which is pleased to have completed one of its largest projects as of late.

After many discussions and hours of planning, the Wisconsin Spudmobile is on the road and spreading the word about Wisconsin potatoes. Since its August 2014 debut, the Wisconsin Spudmobile has traveled to schools and a number of community events, with many more already scheduled on its future 2015 calendar.

Auxiliary board members serving on the Promotions Committee are (L-R) Gabrielle Okray Eck and Paula Houlihan.

With this project complete, the bar is raised. As a result, the Promotions Committee is setting new goals and exploring unique ways to promote Wisconsin potatoes.

And it is all starting with the position of Chairman changing hands. For the last three years, Mike Gatz of Bushmans’ Inc., has been the Promotions Committee Chairman, overseeing several projects through to completion, namely, the quartersized ‘Buy Local’ bins, the beginning of Potatopalooza, Buy Local Kwik Lok Tags and the Spudmobile, to cite a few examples. His leadership and guidance has been a valuable part of the WPVGA Promotions Committee team and program.

“It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience to be as involved with the WPVGA Promotions Committee as I have the last several years,” Gatz says. “My goal has always been to see the Spudmobile completed and to get Wisconsin potatoes to be the continued on pg. 56

BC�T May 55

Marketplace . . . continued from pg. 55

Top: Pictured at the WPVGA Promotions Retreat are (L-R) Michael Gatz, Andy Diercks, newly elected Promotions Committee Chairman Chris Brooks, and WPIB President Heidi Alsum-Randall. Left: (L-R) WPVGA Community Relations Coordinator Jim Zdroik (left) listens to WPVGA Promotions Director Dana Rady. At right is Mike Carter. Right: (L-R) Sally Suprise, Kathy Bartsch, WPVGA Auxiliary President Jacquie Wille, WPVGA staff members Julie Braun and Danielle Sorano.

‘number one’ potato sold in Wisconsin and the Midwest. While this process takes time, I know we are on the right track to accomplishing that goal. I look forward to staying involved with the committee and continuing to help out at events and trade shows.”

At this year’s Promotions Retreat, the Committee elected Chris Brooks of Central Door Solutions to be the Chairman moving forward. Brooks is currently a member of and President for the WPVGA Associate Division Board. He has also been a significant contributor and volunteer for the Promotions Committee in many aspects including the Spudmobile and says he is happy to add this new role to his duties.

“The WPVGA Promotions Committee is a fantastic group to work with,” says Brooks. “We now have Wisconsin’s traveling billboard on the road and I couldn’t be more humbled to work with this group in a new capacity going 56 BC�T May

forward. We have a lot in store this next fiscal year; many things continuing, some are new opportunities. Either way, it will be phenomenal for the Wisconsin potato industry.”

The Promotions Committee will focus on these continuing opportunities: national and local trade shows, food safety training, Powered by Potatoes events, Mad Dog and Merrill, Tundra Super Late Models, Kwik Lok tags, Salad Bars in Schools donations as well as social media management and strategies, especially regarding the Spudmobile.

three aspects in particular that will accompany the Mad Dog and Merrill sponsorship. Heightened social media presence and mentions along with increased visits from the Spudmobile to races, are all examples of what is included in the Tundra Super Late Models sponsorship. A considerable funding amount is now allocated towards promotional items, which are targeted for giveaways around promotional and Spudmobile-related events.

Due to the high level of success and the interest to go to new heights, Promotions Committee members decided to increase sponsorship levels with Mad Dog and Merrill, the grilling duo and Tundra Super Late Models.

A few of the new opportunities for the upcoming fiscal year include the purchase of a Harley motorcycle to give-away prize, seeking additional schools to which the committee can donate a salad bar and funding unique ways to continue/expand the Healthy Grown program.

A 30-second commercial, 30-minute episode devoted to Wisconsin potatoes and several appearance dates by Mad Dog and Merrill are

This new fiscal year that brings new challenges and opportunities, both of which the Promotions Committee is ready to tackle head-on.

Auxiliary News Volunteers & Donations Needed

by Paula Houlihan, Vice President, Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary June is just around the corner and with it comes our annual Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) Mobile Packing event and we need your help.

The Auxiliary members are busily preparing and excited to host our second officially sponsored event.

Thanks to the founding efforts of Mike and Ali Carter and Tamas and Paula Houlihan in past years combined with the Auxiliary’s hosting of the project last year, our industry-supported event has packed and distributed over half a million potato-based meals to starving children around the world!

Thank you to all who donated money and volunteered previously for this event. We look forward to partnering with you again in making this year’s event a success.

Mark your calendars! This year’s date is June 20 and it will be held again at the Noel Hangar in Stevens Point. For those of you who wish to continue your support or those who wish to join us as a volunteer or contribute to the event, simply visit the FMSC website: http://volunteer.fmsc.org/Register/mobilepack/ event.aspx?event=1506-51WAU#.VTErtMK_z5p

Once you are on the site, you can make your donation and/or select a time to work the event. The site goes live and open for registration on May 1. Or, you may mail donations to the WPVGA office, PO Box 327, Antigo, WI 54409.

Remember, only two hours of your weekend will feed thousands of children throughout the year. Join us as we help further our efforts to feed the world and share the giving heart of our wonderful industry.

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BC�T May 57

Managing Editor’s note: Ali Carter’s new cooking column will be replacing Gerri Okray’s “What’s Cookin’” with Gerri’s blessing. Gerri wrote an article about her experiences writing her column for years and working with Badger Common’Tater, WPVGA and WPVGA Auxiliary. We wish her the very best and hopefully, she will continue to contribute material!

Ali's Kitchen

By Ali Carter, WPVGA Auxiliary Member

“My husband, Mike, Bushman’s, Inc., says that I tend to ‘love’ the people around me with food. He is right. I’m not sure anything is more fulfilling than creating a meal for the ones you love. There is a certain creativity and freedom that comes from being in the kitchen. Cooking is a passion of mine and I am beyond excited to share that passion and adventure with all of you!”

CHORIZO POTATO HASH Can we talk a minute about breakfast for dinner? It is a bit indulgent and fun to savor the typical morning meals at the end of a busy day. This Chorizo Potato Hash is one of those breakfast meals that come together easily while providing great flavors.

Crispy fried potatoes and sweet potatoes are perfect mixed with chorizo sausage, cilantro and sprinkling of spices. A soft fried egg, a slice or two of avocado and an English muffin with butter melting into the crooks and crannies, rounds out the meal making this perfectly filling for the day’s end.

58 BC�T May

Today, I chose to use russets as well as an orange sweet potato and a white sweet potato. The white sweet potatoes have a softer texture and milder sweetness than the orange. Combining them both with the russet makes for incredible levels of crispness and flavor.

If you use a variety of sweet potatoes, keep in mind that an orange sweet potato will take longer to cook, so add that to the frying pan first along with a drizzle of olive oil and a pat of butter. Once they soften, add the white sweet potato to the pan. Continue cooking until both are just about fork tender. Then, drizzle a bit more olive oil on them and add the diced russets. This entire process takes about 35 minutes. Look at these beautifully subtle colors!

At this point, add the diced onion and continue frying, allowing the onions to soften and the potato to crisp up.

Then, transfer that delicious potato combination to a bowl and brown your chorizo sausage in the frying pan.

Once browned, add the potatoes back into the pan with the chorizo sausage, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and the spices and turn the burner to low.

In another pan, fry an egg (or two) for each person you will be loving with food this evening.

Once the eggs are fried, you are ready to plate this savory ‘breakfast’.

When I cook, it is typically for three ravenous kids and a hungry husband, plus I LOVE leftovers so I tend to make more food than necessary at the evening meal.

This recipe will feed a family of five with healthy appetites and allow for those treasured leftovers.

The beauty of cooking is the ability to tweak each recipe to fit your particular needs so please feel free to adjust as needed to make this work for you.

You also may notice that I do not mention spice amounts in the recipe below, but bear with me on this as I tend to simply add a dash of this and a sprinkle of that. Again, feel free to be creative!

I promise you cannot mess up this recipe.

CHORIZO POTATO HASH 4 medium-sized russet potatoes, diced into cubes 2 orange sweet potatoes, peeled & diced in small cubes 1 white sweet potato, peeled & diced in small cubes 1 large onion, chopped 15-oz. chorizo sausage 2 Tablespoons butter 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil Fresh cilantro, chopped Paprika Cumin Garlic powder Salt and pepper Eggs Avocado (optional) In a large frying pan, drizzled with olive oil and a pat or two of butter, fry the sweet potatoes and russets until tender and begin to crisp up. Add the onion and continue to fry.

Once cooked through to fork tender and your desired crispness, transfer the potato combination to a bowl. Use the same frying pan to brown the chorizo sausage. Once browned, add the potatoes back into the frying pan to rewarm. Add the chopped cilantro, salt and pepper and spices. Lower heat to low and keep warm. In another pan, melt a pat of butter and fry an egg or two per person.

Add large scoop of sausage and potatoes to a plate, top with a fried egg (or two) and sprinkle with some additional chopped cilantro. Add a couple slices of avocado on the side. ENJOY!

GET INVOLVED, STAY INFORMED, BE AWARE! Join Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and keep abreast of what is happening in the world of produce.

Go to wisconsinpotatoes.com/about/members today and find out how to become a member.

Stake a claim and a voice in your future today!

BC�T May 59

Tater Bin Van Gogh

By Justin Isherwood

Being this is a potato dominion, there should to be a shrine to that effect near Bancroft, another next to Rosholt, add Coddington and Maynard’s Corners … a shrine to the recognition and honor of Vincent van Gogh. I will wager one gold Susan B. Anthony dollar that among major artists of the world, no other captured the role, the place, the people of the potato more often, more affectionately than did Mister One-Ear van Gogh.

whose life becomes devoted to art. A kind of haunting it is, a spell, a vision quest overtakes their lives, renders them immune and impervious to the sundry routines. That they set forth on a grail quest of capturing landscapes and people and garden ponds and birds and teapots, and are soon lost to all normalcies. As a good father, I did warn my children not to fall in love with an artist for theirs is a jealous god.

As an amateur astronomer, I came to my initial regard for this strange, haunted artist, to wonder at the mindset as happens to a person

Was it van Gogh’s “Starry Night” that attracted me to his singular vision?

In the early ‘70s, Don McLean’s song about the “Chevy to the levee”

60 BC�T May

topped the charts. A little later McLean penned “Starry Starry Night” an opus about the tortured mind of Vincent van Gogh. To any stargazer, the charm of this painting is more than the antic color swirls of an exuberant artist. Neatly captured is the turbulent cosmos over our heads, whose wonder lies at the root of our humanity, our prowess as a species, triggered by the depths and wonders of a starry night. A view that telescopes, from Galileo to Hubble have extrapolated into a numbing majesty that neatly resembles what van Gogh painted.

I stray from my cause for a shrine to Vincent van Gogh at every potato town and crossroads.

It was while researching van Gogh’s sketches, that are also favorites of mine, “The Potato Eaters” being one, that I realized in the van Gogh collection, there were more depictions of the potato, its culture and its people than any other artist produced. It included dozens of scenes, studies, sketches and the people of the potato world.

Van Gogh uniquely captured the role of the potato, as it once existed in North European life and culture.

The sheer cultural and gastronomic dependence on potatoes is critical to the well-being of society, in particular the lower working class. No other food crop has had a more compelling impact on history, social security, the industrial revolution and basic human survival, as did the potato, almost single-handedly generating a surplus of food calories where they had not before existed.

Heartland's operations are ten times that.

In my life, I have dug potatoes with a short-handled fork, to confess how very long an 80-rod row is when viewed from a fork handle. I have dug potatoes behind a horse, later augmented with a PTO shaft from a Chevy, the one before the levee.

As a farmer, I have owned a dozen or so potato diggers of various brands, colors, fragilities. In the end the color and the size do not matter, we are still just diggers of potatoes. As Vincent van Gogh painted, a root crop called pomme de terre, ‘apple of the earth’ for a good reason.

An Irish proverb of the time is illustrative. “A man might be wealthy, might be handsome and wise, a thousand acres to his keep, but naught so happy as a croft knee-deep in potatoes.”

Vincent van Gogh captured that time, those people, their circumstances; their lives kept whole by a cellar of potatoes. They ate well and lived long because of that lowly tuber.

I am at this moment engaged in my farm and my region’s harvest of this humble vegetable. I shall not be using the fork like the one van Gogh illustrated, but one of these green leviathans known as Lenco, cathedrals on wheels as Henry Adams did propose.

The air of this domain will smell of potato earth, I will smell of this same earth. On our farm, we can store 45 tons per hour unless something breaks; what happens at McCain’s, Wysocki's, Okray's, Helbach's, Paramount's, Worzella's, Soiks' and

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SPUD SEED CLASSIC Formerly the Tony Gallenberg Memorial Golf Tournament Since 1998, this tournament has raised over $50,000 which was donated to Wisconsin potato research.

Friday, June 12, 2015 Maplewood Golf Course Hwy 55, Pickerel, WI Shotgun Start at 10:00 a.m.

NEW FORMAT: 4-Person Scramble (Best Ball Position) Shotgun Start at 10:00 a.m.

Free Drinks at the WSPIA - sponsored Watering Hole!

All Ladies Only Teams Will Receive 8 Strokes Subtracted From Their Scores Mens/Ladies Combo (2 Each) Will Receive 4 Strokes Subtracted From Their Scores

Cash Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 7th, & Last Place!

Prizes for every golfer!

Numerous hole prizes! Chances to win a car!

Proceeds from this event will be donated to the Wisconsin Seed Potato Improvement Association $65 entry fee includes: 18 holes of golf, cart, light lunch and main meal to follow golf.

Call Maplewood @ 484-GOLF (4653) today to sign up.

This event will be capped at the first confirmed 100 golfers.

Cut and mail in registration

Cut and mail in registration

Golfer #1

$65

Golfer #2

$65

Golfer #3

$65

Golfer #4

$65

Entry Fee is $65 Per Person.

Make Checks Payable To: Maplewood Golf Course/Spud Seed Classic

Donation: Total:

Mail The Above Entry Form and Fees To: Maplewood Golf Course, P.O. Box 40, Pickerel, WI 54465 by June 5th

P.O. Box 327 Antigo, WI 54409

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage Paid Stevens Point, WI 54481 Permit No. 480

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