Andy Diercks, a fourth-generation potato farmer from the Coloma community in rural Wisconsin, is forthright about the challenges that family farmers face today.

Fourth-generation potato farmer Andy Diercks, who originates from the Coloma community in rural Wisconsin, is unapologetic about the challenging conditions that modern family farms face.

“There are days when the choices aren’t always good, and you’re making the least bad choice. But we’ve survived well. I’m proud of what we do here,” Diercks declared.

From the original seed supply to disease control and management, Diercks’ family and farmers throughout the state have collaborated closely with University of Wisconsin–Madison vegetable researchers for decades in an effort to guarantee a healthy harvest.

The high stakes for Wisconsin farms are all too familiar to Amanda Gevens, the chair of the plant pathology department and an Extension expert at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In July 2009, when she started at UW, the state saw its first late blight outbreak in almost ten years. For farmers to combat the crippling plant disease, Gevens needed to develop the ability to communicate important information to them in a timely and practical way.

“The intervention that you recommend can save the return for that crop. And for very large acreage, that can be in the millions of dollars,” Gevens mentioned.

Delivering vital crop management tools: ‘Every grower is using them’

Blitecast, UW’s weather-based data model that determines a daily risk number (from zero to four) for late blight based on temperature and rainfall, is one of Gevens’s key communication tools. Farmers are alerted that it’s time to apply fungicides when the accumulated risk value hits 18, which indicates that the environmental conditions are conducive to late blight. By avoiding overspraying, the online tool protects a farm’s valuable resources while also preventing late blight.

Some farmers religiously check Blitecast every day, while others wait for Gevens’s weekly e-newsletter, Vegetable Crop Update. A September issue announcing the latest Blitecast readings reported an isolated case of blight in a tomato sample from southwestern Wisconsin and provided a list of recommended fungicides. It also noted UW’s free services for late blight testing and disease strain typing.

“These tools are the basis for starting our blight programs and our primary source for disease pressure regionally. I think every grower is using them,” Diercks says.

Tackling the Disease Triangle

UW researchers are tackling the entire “disease triangle”: the environment (tracked by Blitecast), the pathogen (diagnosed and managed through testing), and the host — that is, the health of the seed.

Since 1913, UW–Madison has overseen the Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program. The university maintains the state’s potato tissue culture, storing the tiny plantlets of potatoes that seed future commercial production. The year-long inspection process covers the entire growing cycle and even involves shipping seed potatoes to Hawaii during the winter months to continue to observe their health and quality.

UW–Madison’s program has become a model for other states, and Wisconsin farmers have come to trust implicitly the health and productivity of the seed supply.

‘It’s a Great Relationship’

Diercks, who graduated from UW in 1993 with a degree in agricultural engineering, operates Coloma Farms alongside his father, Steve. The farm spans 2,700 acres and is a supplier to McCain Foods, the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products. The Diercks family has long collaborated with UW researchers to implement more productive and sustainable practices, and they routinely return the favor by opening their farm to the university for education and research projects.

“They’re not afraid to ask us to change, and we don’t have any problem asking why they’re trying to get us to make some of the changes. It’s a great relationship. It’s frankly one of the main reasons I’ve stayed on the farm,” Diercks also mentioned.

The close partnership between UW researchers and Wisconsin farmers is also leading to promising innovations. Gevens’s lab is developing a tool that uses aerial imaging from aircraft and satellites to evaluate the health of crops on the ground.

“We’ve developed some models that tell us when the crop has late blight or early blight. We can identify disease in the plant before it’s showing symptoms. We’ve never before been able to do that,” Gevens says. “We think it will help give better information to the farmers in advance of disease.”

Her team is also testing the use of UV light — “almost like dosing using a chemical,” she says — to treat disease while potatoes are in long-term storage.

Gevens grew up working on a small vegetable farm in New York and interacting with agents from the Cornell Cooperative Extension. So it’s no wonder that she feels right at home in her current career and alongside dedicated farmers like Diercks.

“The research team — they’re just really good people. We know them socially. They have beers with us at the end of the day. They’re friends. And they’re willing to get out of Madison and grab samples, walk around in the field, get their feet and hands dirty,” Diercks concluded.