Northern Maine Plant Research Facility to be Dedicated
Contact: Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777, houtman@maine.edu
ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine will dedicate the Jacob Shur Research Facility in Crystal, Maine at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 24. A gift from Island Falls potato grower Arthur Shur, the facility will provide space for UMaine scientists to apply advanced tissue culture techniques to the needs of Maine’s potato and horticultural industries.
Maine Governor John Baldacci and Commissioner of Agriculture Robert Spear will attend the ceremony marking the dedication of the research station to Arthur Shur’s father, Jacob Shur.
The facility includes a building and three greenhouses with enough space to accommodate up to a million plants. Tissue culture allows growers to produce desirable, disease free plants at a commercial scale.
Prior to the donation to UMaine, the facility had been leased to the Monsanto Corporation for research on genetically modified potatoes. No research related to genetic engineering is being done at the facility.
“This very generous gift from Arthur Shur, combined with the recent construction by the Maine Potato Board of the experimental storage facility and the new greenhouse at Aroostook Farm, gives us the ability to provide state-of-the art research support to the potato industry. This new research facility will provide support for horticulture and forestry issues as well,” says Bruce Wiersma, director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station at UMaine.
Examples of the kind of research that the facility will make possible include new potato varieties and ornamental plants with significant market potential for farmers, homeowners and landscapers. Susan Ballou of Island Falls managed the station for Monsanto and will continue as the manager for UMaine.