By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
For his ongoing water flow and phosphorus monitoring project in the Antigo Flats potato and vegetable production area, Chuck Bolte of VAS Laboratories, formerly known as AgSource Laboratories, has been awarded WPVGA competitive research grants annually for several years.
Potato growers in the Antigo Flats area of Wisconsin are taking a leadership role in an effort to proactively control phosphorus runoff in the Spring Brook and Eau Claire River watersheds.
The Antigo Flats is designated by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection as an area with unique characteristics that best represent the state soil—Antigo silt loam.
The project of controlling and monitoring phosphorous runoff started in early 2016 when the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) awarded AgSource Laboratories a grant to build a spatial database of the PI (Phosphorus Index) for all the potato growers in the area.
With a 50-plus-year history of soil testing and nutrient management planning, AgSource Laboratories, a full-service agronomy lab, recently merged with its sister company ,VAS, a leader in software for dairy operations.
Known for its VAS PULSE Platform and Dairy-Comp cattle monitoring database software, VAS has an extensive background in web-based suites, including field data collection and monitoring for farms.
The goal of VAS Laboratories remains the same—to create clarity out of research and raw data points, equipping growers with the power to make informed management decisions.
