The Schedule
August 9, 2022
8:45 am
Welcome
Julie Ann Smith, President, AGCOM
Overview of Tour
Jim Dill
Overview of UMaine Cooperative Extension Dean Hannah Carter
Overview of UMaine Experiment Station
Dean Diane Rowland
Overview of Agricultural Legislative Policy, Tony Lyons, President, Maine Farm Bureau
Overview of Potato Industry
Don Flannery, Executive Director, Maine Potato Board
10:30 - 11:15
Crane Brothers is a fourth-generation farm and one of the largest potato-growing operations in the state.
11:35 - 1:00
Treworgy Family Orchards is a multigenerational pick-your-own fruit and vegetable farm with a national award winning annual corn maze.
Lunch will be provided by Treworgy Family Orchards and graciously donated by the Maine Potato Board.
1:30 - 2:15
Stonyvale Farm in Exeter, a fifth-generation Maine farm owned by the Fogler family, is a dairy farm with over 1,000 milking cows producing more than 22 million pounds of milk per year. Each year, Stonyvale's cows produce up to 97 million pounds of solid waste, which is then used by Maine's first-of-its-kind anaerobic digestion system, a renewable-energy process that converts animal and food waste into methane-rich biogas. Collected manure is fed into a digester where heat is applied to break down the material into biogases. Those gases then fuel a 16-cylinder, 1,500-horsepower engine that produces 24,000 kilowatt hours per day — enough electricity to meet the needs of 800 households.
3:00 - 3:55
The Cooperative Extension Diagnostic and Research Laboratory brings together scientists researching animals, agriculture, insects, and plants under one roof. The unique combination of researchers provides many teaching opportunities for students, as well as premier research and outreach facilities.
By allowing for research contributions to agriculture, public health, communities, and wildlife, the lab aims to benefit Maine in a variety of ways, including protecting the natural resource- and food-based economies, adding to food safety and human health, and providing unique diagnostic and testing services to farmers, homeowners, and the public.
4:00 - 5:00
The J. Franklin Witter Teaching and Research Center in Old Town is the home to the college’s teaching and research programs in animal sciences and sustainable agriculture.
The Center has two units: the Witter Farm, adjacent to the University of Maine campus and Rogers Farm, located several miles from the Orono campus. The Witter Farm is the home of undergraduate and graduate education and research programs in dairy and equine science. Rogers Farm has a focus on sustainable agriculture research and education.
5:30 - 7:15
Banquet at Orono Brewing Company
Orono Brewing Company opened with a bang on NYE 2014 and ever since then we’ve been doing exactly what we want to do: brewing the best beer we possibly can and bringing people together. We believe in paying attention to every detail, to collaboration and evolution, and to sharing the OBC experience with our growing community. It all starts with our production team led by co-founder Asa Marsh-Sachs.
Decades of combined brewing experience and a shared dedication to quality control, safety, and creativity give our team the tools to brew fantastic beer. Ultra filtered water, mineral additions to mimic water sources around the globe, high quality malts and hops, yeast management, and extremely high standards backed up with daily lab work are all part of the process. Our 20 bbl brew system is the right size for us, allowing us to distribute our beer but also keeping it super fresh. We have also retained our original brewery location, and are dedicating that space to our wild beer and barrel program – the beers coming out of that program are tasting awesome! We are currently distributed in Maine, NH, and MA, with small drops hitting RI and NY as well.