WPVGA takes opportunity to recognize past and present leaders of Association
By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
Summer in the Wisconsin potato and vegetable industry means a flurry of field days.
Those related to potato and vegetable production in the state include the Antigo Field Day, held July 6, 2023, at the Langlade Agricultural Research Station (LARS); the Hancock Agricultural Research Station (HARS) Field Day, July 13; and the Lelah Starks Elite Foundation Seed Potato Farm Field Day, July 20, in Rhinelander.
At each stop along the “field day tour” over a two-week span, visitors were made aware of current research conducted at the Agricultural Research Stations and funded by the Wisconsin Potato Industry Board and Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) committees.
LARS Manager Niles Franc welcomed guests to the Antigo Field Day, and Brooke Babler of the Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Lab gave an update on her team’s program.
“The crop’s been dry, and irrigation is a thing this year,” Babler noted. “Field inspections were delayed a little, so we’ve been putting a lot of hours in lately, and everything looks great with a lot of varieties out in the fields.”
Wagons took visitors out to fields where Yi Wang, University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison Department of Horticulture, talked about funded research in nitrogen management and remote monitoring.
Russ Groves, UW-Madison Department of Entomology, discussed a healthy population of Colorado potato beetles, as well as work his team is conducting on the control of aphids, army worms, thrips, leafhoppers, and other crop pests.
Amanda Gevens, UW-Madison Department of Plant Pathology, discussed potato scab treatment evaluation and an early blight systemic fungicide trial. Other research focuses on control of silver scurf, white mold, brown spot, and downy mildew, among others.
