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Michigan potato growers increase funding options
Michigan potato growers have amended their assessment rates to allow for more checkoff collections in the future.
Executive Director Dr. Kelly Turner tells Brownfield the change hasn’t increased funding for the Michigan Potato Industry Commission, but now farmers have more options.
“The cost of research, marketing, and education continues to go up, and they just wanted to have a cushion if they needed,” she explains.
Growers can now be assessed up to 9 1/2 cents per hundredweight, a four-cent cap increase on potatoes grown in the state.
She says a Donor Advisory Fund has also been created with the Fremont Area Community Foundation to prepare for transitional costs associated with pending Michigan State University researcher retirements.
“To either directly support research done at MSU, to support infrastructure needs that may come up, and to be able to provide a source of funding for those startup dollars for critical positions in the future,” she says.
Turner says research with MSU centers on potato late blight, variety development, and long-term storage management.
