The University of Wisconsin’s Hancock Agricultural Research Station is celebrating 100 years of research, vegetables, farmer partnerships, education and innovation.
An expanded Potato and Vegetable Research Field Day will be held July 28 at the station, located at N3909 County Road V, Hancock, Wis., in the heart of the Central Sands region. The celebration will also be marking 10 years of a state-of-the-art potato storage research facility, said Felix Navarro, the station’s superintendent.
Navarro said the public is invited to attend all or any portion of the festivities. All events are free; complimentary lunch and dinner will be provided. Navarro expects at least 300 to attend the station’s centennial. A special feature will be the debut of a 135-page commemorative history book about the station. Potato grower and author Justin Isherwood of Plover, Wis., collaborated on the book with Navarro and other UW researchers who have been affiliated with the station.
The station became the university’s fourth experimental farm and part of a state legislature-mandated research station, representative of soil types from around the state. From the beginning there was strong community support for the station, Navarro said.
“The people around Hancock saw a value in connecting with the university and trying to bring soil fertility and soil conservation research to this area,” he said.
He said early on the station planted shelter belts of trees to block wind and prevent soil erosion, but that it wasn’t until the station installed irrigation in 1947 that the Central Sands’ full agronomic potential was recognized.
Today Wisconsin is No. 3, behind Idaho and Washington, respectively, in potato production. The state is No. 1 in snap beans, No. 2 in carrots, No. 3 in both sweet corn and peas, and No. 5 in cucumbers, according to Tamas Houlihan, executive director of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA). He said the Hancock station has been instrumental in the success of Wisconsin’s expansive potato and vegetable industry, much of which is concentrated in the Central Sands.
“Our growers are able to grow as much as they did 20 years ago on 25 percent less land,” said Houlihan, crediting such outstanding yields in large part to research conducted at the Hancock station.
Houlihan said the WPVGA annually funds more than $300,000 in potato and vegetable research, much of which is conducted at the Hancock station. Growers also built and funded Hancock’s world-class potato storage research facility by raising or gifting about $3.2 million.
“We really appreciate the collaboration of growers themselves, and of the association,” Navarro said. “We look forward to keeping that collaboration open, especially in these times of challenges with university budgets. It’s been key to keeping our function relevant to agriculture in Wisconsin.
“Growers bring samples here every week through the winter for glucose and sucrose analysis to determine processing crop quality. They can then make a decision on potato storage in their own facilities. We can predict performance of processing potatoes for the following two weeks.”
Navarro also credits input by the Midwest Food Processors Association as crucial to the Hancock station’s continued vitality. Still, despite strong support, Navarro said the station has been impacted by recent university budget cuts. Currently the station position of potato agronomist is vacant and has been for a couple of years, since former agronomist A.J. Bussen left for private industry. But Navarro said he expects within the next eight months the university will hire a new agronomist.
The station consists of 412 acres, all irrigated, and is utilized by numerous university research groups investigating best practices for producing potatoes, snap beans, sweet corn, carrots and other specialty crops, in addition to field corn and soybeans. Plant breeding and genetics are an important piece of what researchers do at the station, said Navarro, who earned a doctorate degree in 2005 from the UW-Madison, focusing on snap bean genetics. From 2005 to 2013 he worked in the potato breeding program before shouldering station management.
Navarro said the Snowden potato variety was developed at the stations in the 1990s and MegaChip more recently. Other standouts have been Oneida Gold—a yellow potato resistant to common scab—and Red Endeavor, a smooth, round, high-yielding red potato for the fresh market. Hodag, a new chipping release, has recently been named. It too is resistant to common scab.
Hancock research has had a hand in a new green bean, Accelerate, which is resistant to Aphanomyces root rot. Navarro said other major research includes:
- early blight in potatoes,
- nematodes in potatoes,
- Verticillium wilt or early dying in potatoes,
- white mold in snap beans and soybeans,
- dieback of pine trees,
- Colorado potato beetles in potatoes, and
- irrigation and water use in the Central Sands.
Houlihan said a new focus for the industry is an emerging disease called dickeya, which is similar to blackleg in potatoes. It started on the East Coast and has begun to show up in Wisconsin. It spreads quickly and reduces potato yields and quality, he said.
Navarro is hopeful that the only living former Hancock-station superintendent, Chuck Kostichka, will be on hand for the July 28 centennial event, as well as John Schoenemann, UW-Extension potato specialist from 1948 to 1986. Now in his 90s, Schoenemann is the oldest living professor associated with the station.
The July 28 agenda includes presentations from 9 a.m. to noon focusing on station accomplishments. A complimentary lunch of burgers and brats will be provided by the WPVGA associate division from noon to 1 p.m. The station’s field day will be held from 1 to 4 p.m., including an examination of potato storage research over the past 10 years. Field research topics include weed and disease management, soil fertility, insect control and potato and vegetable breeding updates.
From 4:15 to 5 p.m., the centennial celebration will continue with comments by Isherwood, Houlihan and other speakers A complimentary dinner featuring chicken and ribs will be provided the WPVGA associate division.
“Our growers really see the value of trials and research at Hancock, which has very similar soils to where most of the [state’s] potatoes are produced,” Houlihan said. “The beauty of it is how willing researchers are to come to individual farms and help growers with their problems. It’s been a two-way street. We fund (researchers) but they help us tremendously. I think it’ll be a great celebration.”
Source: Agri-View