PRESQUE ISLE — Two representatives of the Venezuelan potato industry will examine Maine’s certified seed potato program during a visit to Aroostook County next week.

As guests of the Maine Potato Board and the Maine Department of Agriculture, on Monday, July 30, the South American visitors will tour the potato breeding program at the Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle and the Porter Seed Farm in Masardis, where seed for the state’s crop is generated.

On Tuesday, July 31, the group will visit seed farms in the Presque Isle area to view potato fields, machinery and modern storage facilities. A luncheon for the visitors, Simone Ortega and Lexis Villalobos, is scheduled at noon.

For the past few years, Maine potato seed has been grown in test plots in Venezuela. An agreement was signed in 1988 between the South American country’s government and the Maine Potato Board for that country to receive United States varieties. At the time of the agreement, Venezuela imported about 1 million hundredweight of potato seed annually, primarily from Canada. Climatic conditions allow Venezuelan growers to produce two crops a year.

In other industry activity, the Maine Potato Board has voted to establish an arbitration panel to look into branding-law disputes. In addition to board officials, the panel also will involve the Maine Department of Agriculture and other interested parties, according to MPB director David R. Lavway. Formed in answer to complaints fromn a group of 130 growers about enforcement of the branding law, the panel is scheduled to be formed before the next potato shipping season, Lavway said.

Shippers and Growers for Quality and Justice has claimed that the branding law violates a shipper’s constitutional rights.

During a meeting last week, the board voted to conduct simultaneous meetings of the industry assemblies on Tuesday, Aug. 21, at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The meetings will be preceded by a 6 p.m. buffet supper at Kelley Commons on campus.

The board also will study the staffing situation at the MPB office. Recommendations will be presented during the August meeting, Lavway said. A proposal regarding turning over the business aspect of the industry’s Maine Potato News to another publisher will be made during the next meeting. The board would maintain editorial control over the industry publication, Lavway said.

It was announced during the Friday session that William Funke, a board member representing area potato processors, has resigned, citing time constraints. Funke will stay on the board through September, by which time the processing assembly will elect a new executive board representative.