Spooner Agricultural Research Station Hopes To Sow A Seed Of Collaboration With Farmers

The Spooner Agricultural Research Station will hold an open house for produce farmers to learn more about the Seed to Kitchen collaborative. The University of Wisconsin’s plant-breeding program collects data on which crop varieties grow best in certain areas of the state.

It’s important for researchers with the Seed to Kitchen collaborative to collect information from organic farms throughout the state since weather and soils can vary greatly in Wisconsin, according to Niki Lacktorin. The UW-River Falls student is working with farmers on the project at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station this summer. Lacktorin said the open house aims to encourage producers to take part.

“We provide seed to them at no cost and they can plant that seed how they normally would with whatever their normal management production practices are,” she said. “Then, they provide data to us throughout the season, as far as what diseases have they come across, any issues with pests, any yield issues, things like that.”

Lacktorin said farmers will be able to see different seed varieties of crops grown side-by-side at the research station. The open house will also feature presentations from guest speakers, including Ruth Genger, associate researcher at UW-Madison. Genger studies organic potato seed production and breeding. She said farmers are vital to expanding research on which seed varieties produce the best crops.

“It’s generally good to have disease-resistant and pest-resistant varieties in organic systems, and a lot of the time growers have to make a selection of their varieties based on the quality because that’s what consumers want – that’s what their customers are looking for,” said Genger. “Sometimes that means they might be choosing a variety that doesn’t have such great disease tolerance or such great pest tolerance, and so we are trying to help them find varieties that combine all of those characteristics.”

The Organic Seed Potato Project, like the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative, works with organic farmers to determine which potato seed varieties grow best under different conditions and regions of the state.

The open house will be held Monday, July 17, and begins at 4 p.m. at the Spooner Agriculture Research Station. The event is free and open to the public.