Jul 21, 2025$3M in renovations to boost breeding program at Aroostook Farm
A $3 million renovation at Aroostook Farm, home of the University of Maine’s breeding program, is poised to help the university accelerate its development of new potato varieties.
For more than a century, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station’s 425-acre Aroostook Farm has worked to benefit the state’s potato industry, breeding innovations such as the Caribou Russet, which became the top seed variety planted in Maine last September.
On July 18, Maine Gov. Janet Mills joined UMaine and Maine Potato Board leaders to cut the ribbon on the newly modernized farm in Presque Isle, according to the University of Maine’s website. The renovation was funded by the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan approved by the state Legislature.
Maine’s potato industry has a $1.3 billion annual economic impact in the state and supports more than 6,500 jobs, according to a recent UMaine report (.pdf).
Developing a new potato variety like the Caribou Russet typically takes 10 to 12 years, requiring evaluation of multiple potential varieties, according to the university. Advanced technology upgrades at Aroostook Farm will help speed up that process, helping to measure and assess yield and other characteristics of more varieties simultaneously.
In a potato storage building now converted into a lab, new DNA phenotyping and imaging equipment, including optical sorters, sensors and machines that detect sugar levels, will expand research capabilities. In the fields, new drones will allow for more efficient monitoring of nearly 6,000 test plots.
“With tools like drones that will fly over the farm’s nearly 6,000 test plots, the Aroostook Farm will help agriculture students better determine which potato varieties are most resistant to weather, pests and disease, and develop successful new varieties, like the Caribou Russet, to keep Maine-grown potatoes in high demand,” Mills said. “When we created the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan to build an economy of the future, this is exactly the type of payoff we were envisioning. I congratulate the University of Maine and our entire agriculture community on the transformation of the Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle into an advanced research institution.”
The Maine Potato Board and Farm Credit East, ACA also contributed to the capital project.
“The Maine Potato Board appreciates the University of Maine making this project a priority, and their decades of leadership, research and responsiveness to our growers and producers,” Jeannie Tapley, Maine Potato Board executive director, said. “The investments made here will help develop the next Caribou Russet more quickly and the next generation of researchers necessary for our industry to adapt and continue producing the highest-quality potatoes in the world right here in Maine.”
