Senators eye crop research project Collins, Snowe won support for funding

NEWPORT – To the untrained eye, the rows of sweet corn and vegetables resemble a farmer’s summer garden.

In fact, the 10-acre plot on the Williams Road in Newport is a research site for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New England plant, soil and water laboratory, located at the University of Maine in Orono.

Nearly five years ago, the Clinton administration almost completely cut the program’s funding, but U.S. Sens. Susan M. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe, gained the support of the ranking Republican member of the Senate’s Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran.

The lab and field sites were given funding and were saved. Since that time, the facility has grown in size from a staff of four to 20, and has garnered more funding for research.

Monday, after eating lunch with potato and blueberry growers in the region, Sens. Collins and Cochran traveled to the Newport site to view the fruits of their labor.

“We see a bright future for the lab,” Collins said. “It’s the only agricultural resource lab in New England and [Cochran] saved the lab. It’s nice for us to see the reality of our funding.”

The Orono lab and the field sites, located in Newport and Presque Isle, have been operational for nearly 25 years, according to Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, research leader for the USDA’s New England plant, soil and water laboratory.

“The overall goal [of the Newport site] is to develop cropping systems for the Northeast that are profitable and that efficiently use water and nutrients and that are also characterized by pathogen, insect and weed control with minimal chemical input.” The area consists of cropping systems, which are a combination of crops in crop rotation and crop management practices, Honeycutt said.

“We have a number of different crops [including sweet corn, canola, barley, green beans, soy beans] and they are grown in rotation with the potatoes,” said Honeycutt.

Rotating crops is important for breaking up disease cycles such as black scruf, a disease that reduces the yield and quality of potatoes, he said. By rotating, you’re removing the disease host so it’s not there every year, he said.

Cochran said he is glad to see the funding has helped the farming industry in such a positive way.

“The findings from this work will be transferred into useful information for farmers to make the process of growing potatoes more efficient,” Cochran said Monday.

Brian Campbell, vice president of finance and office procedures for the National Potato Council, agreed.

The USDA’s experiments are brought back to farms and used Campbell said.

“[The experiments] help in picking your rotation crop and it makes your farm more profitable because you can increase your yield with the right rotation and decrease fertilizer input and pesticide use, which is better for the environment,” he said.