Attend the 2024 Montcalm County Potato Field Day on August 8

Steve Whittington<whitti34@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

MSU Extension and Michigan Potato Industry Commission to host the 2024 Montcalm County Potato Field Day at the Montcalm Research Center.

Freshly dug up potatoes sitting on top of soil.
Photo by Pixabay

Michigan State University Extension in partnership with the Michigan Potato Industry Commission will host the 2024 Montcalm County Potato Field Day on Thursday, Aug. 8 at the Montcalm Research Center located at 4629 W. McBride Rd., Lakeview, MI 48850. Producers, agribusiness professionals and community members are welcome to attend. The event will begin at 8 a.m. with a check-in and light refreshments and coffee provided. The event will conclude after lunch around 1 p.m. with an optional potato research meeting immediately following the field day.

This year’s potato field day is one you don’t want to miss with three concurrent breakout sessions covering well modernization and water use efficiency, soil health and composting in potato systems, and finally a harvest and post-harvest handling session.

The first breakout session will focus on well modernization and water use efficiencies. The Michigan Potato Industry Commission has recently upgraded two wells at the Montcalm Research Center that were decades old. We will discuss this process of well modernization and the benefits to this upgrade in potato systems. In addition to the well modernization discussion, Todd Feenstra with Midwest Water Stewards will be on site to discuss the benefits of irrigation and stream gauge monitoring for large quantity withdrawal users. Feenstra will demonstrate the well monitoring in real time to show what the well probes are reading every 5 seconds. Recently, high-capacity water users have dealt with new scrutiny from agencies and limitations on new well permit issuance. Potatoes require large amounts of water at targeted growth stages. Considerations around this modern challenge will be discussed.

This water use breakout session will also feature Michigan State University (MSU) Irrigation Specialist Younsuk Dong who will also discuss irrigation uniformities and efficiencies. MSU and Purdue University Irrigation Educator Lyndon Kelley will also discuss implications of state-imposed water withdrawal limits and the effect of these limitations on agricultural production capacity and expansion. The popular MiWATT (Michigan Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool) and screen will be available on-site at the Potato Industry Commission building so producers can look up their fields to determine which well classes are available in their fields.

The second concurrent breakout session will feature a composting system demonstration. In partnership with Morgan’s Compost, a demonstration plot with compost and an un-composted control will be discussed and the potential positive implications it may have on potato production. This demonstration will feature a discussion on the disease triangle of potato early die complex, nematodes, verticillium wilt, fumigation considerations and more. MSU experts and researchers will discuss the positives and negatives of composting in potato systems referencing early data on this study and will give recommendations on how composting fits into potato production systems.

In the final concurrent breakout session, experts will demonstrate effective harvest and post-harvest handling of potatoes. Various topics will be discussed including seasonal growing conditions and the effect on plant physiology, tuber physiology and black spot bruise detections, wound healing and storage rot prevention, proper field handling techniques, and commercial approaches to pathogen prevention and maintenance.

The field day will conclude with a provided lunch followed by an optional Michigan Potato Industry Commission Research Committee meeting in Douglas Township. We are excited to host this event and welcome you to join us at this year’s field day!

Registration for the Montcalm County Field Day is free

Three certified crop adviser credits and two restructured use pesticide credits are available for attendees. This event is also a Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program Phase I event. If you are unable to sign up online, please call the Montcalm County MSU Extension Office at 989-831-7500.

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This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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