august 3-13 WISCONSIN STATE FAIR Milwaukee, WI 7-11 POTATOES USA SUMMER MEETING JW Marriott Austin Austin, TX 12 ANTIGO TATER TROT City Park, 8:30 a.m. Antigo, WI 12 WEST MADISON ARS HORTICULTURE FIELD DAY 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Verona, WI 19 WAUPACA AREA TRIATHLON South Park, 7 a.m. Waupaca, WI 25-26 BARNESVILLE POTATO DAYS Barnesville, MN 26 SILVER LAKE TRIATHLON Silver Lake Park, 7 a.m. Portage, WI september 5-9 POTATO BOWL USA WEEK Grand Forks-East Grand Forks, ND 17 DEVIL’S CHALLENGE TRIATHLON North Shore of Devil’s Lake Baraboo, WI 23 SPUD BOWL Community Stadium at Goerke Park Stevens Point, WI October Mark Your Calendar 17 WGA INNOVATION EXPO Hyatt Regency & KI Center Green Bay, WI 20-21 PMA (PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION) FRESH SUMMIT New Orleans, LA 28 INAUGURAL ALSUM FARMS & PRODUCE TATER TROT 5K TO BENEFIT FFA Alsum Farms & Produce Friesland, WI 30-31 RESEARCH MEETING West Madison Ag Research Station Madison, WI Planting Ideas What a hub of activity the state of Wisconsin is during the potato and vegetable planting, growing and harvesting seasons. Until a person is immersed in the field of agriculture, it might be easy to miss the number of farm vehicles, four-wheel drive trucks displaying ag-related logos, box trucks and semis, all having to do with farming, crops and their transportation, that are tooling down the road, tires humming. The “Badger Beat” feature in this issue summarizes a fascinating undertaking by Associate Professor Paul D. Mitchell and Professor Steve Deller, both from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Robert Smail, a Department of Natural Resources hydrogeologist. It was the goal of Mitchell, Deller and Smail (sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it?) to measure the economic impact of specialty crops and irrigated agriculture in Wisconsin. The three found that specialty crop production by farmers generates more than $1 billion annually in economic activity for the state and more than 7,500 jobs. Once combined with specialty crop processing, the full industry generates more than $5.8 billion in economic activity and almost 25,000 jobs. No wonder there are so many ag vehicles on the road! Irrigation, of course, is crucial for specialty crop production in Wisconsin, especially potatoes, vegetables and cranberries. In addition, commodity crops such as corn, soybean and dairy forage (alfalfa) are also significant users of irrigation, with these crops actually constituting more than half of the irrigated acres in the state. Scientific analysis by Mitchell, Deller and Smail shows that eliminating irrigation (heaven forbid) would imply a loss of $224 million per year in direct revenue losses to farmers, with most of this loss to the potato and vegetable growers—$157 million, or 70 percent of the total. This is a story that needs to be told. And what’s touched on above is only a small fraction of their findings. See “Badger Beat” in this issue for the full, detailed and information-packed article. You won’t be disappointed. Please email me with your thoughts and questions. If you wish to be notified when our free online magazine is available monthly, here is the subscriber link: http://wisconsinpotatoes.com/blog-news/subscribe. Joe Kertzman Managing Editor jkertzman@wisconsinpotatoes.com
Schroeder Bros. Farms, Inc. WISCONSIN CERTIFIED SEED POTATOES REDS Red Norlands Dark Red Norlands Red Endeavor WHITES Atlantics Snowdens Superiors Pikes Mega Chip Lamoka RUSSETS Russet Burbanks Goldrush Silverton Tx296 Norkotah Russet Norkotah Co8 “ONLY THE BEST” Foundation & Certified Seed Potatoes N1435 Cty Rd D Antigo, WI (715) 623-2689 farm@sbfi.biz johnt@sbfi.biz
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