PRESQUE ISLE – The Maine Potato Board on Wednesday unanimously approved a budget of $1,934,807 for 2003-2004.

The budget is 5.9 percent less than this year’s budget of $2,056,428.

A key component of the new budget is the allocation of $15,000 for irrigation water management.

An economic impact study of the state’s potato industry that was released on Wednesday showed that only about 30 percent of the state’s potato farmers make use of irrigation for their crops. The report noted that irrigation is a key component to increasing crop yield.

Maine is last in terms of using irrigation among the 11 states that harvest a potato crop in the fall and is 10th in terms of yield per acre.

Donald Flannery, MPB executive director, said the money will be used to help farmers develop water management plans and get permits for irrigation.

Such plans can be done on a cost-share basis with the state. Flannery said the cost for such plans is $3,000 to $4,000.

The board will be working actively to assist more farmers with the use of irrigation.

“If we’re going to go out an try to secure money for farmers to irrigate, we want to be ready to irrigate,” he said. “It’s being proactive and helping the farmers be proactive.”

Items funded this year that will not need to be funded next year and therefore helped to reduce the budget include: the National Potato Council seed seminar, which was hosted in Maine last year, for a savings of $120,000; the economic impact study, for a savings of $15,000; and development of marketing program, for a savings of $31,200.

“The projections for the year are that we’re in pretty good shape,” Flannery told the board.