100 YearsYearrss off Seed GrGrowingrowiowing TraditionTrradiadittiion PioneersPioneers InIn SeedSeed PotatoPotato CertificationCertification MuchMuch off thethe earlyear ly researchreseearar ch wworkork on potpotatoato didiseasesseases and how theythey spreadspr ead waswas ddone one iinn GGermanye rmany aandn d HHollandollan d aaroundround tthehe turnturn ofof thethe century.ce ntur y. ScientistsSci en tists ffoundound tthat,hat, tthroughhrough ccarefularareful monitoringmo nito ring of thethe cropcr oop Scientistsp and rremovalemo foundval of unhealunhealthythat, throughthy plplants,antant carefuls, ttheyhey mcouldcould maintainmain tai n a vivigorous,ggororo us, healhealthy thy sstockto ck iindefinitely.ndefinitely. SSimilarimilar e researchresear ch soonsoon wwasa s bbeibeingeing cconductedo nducted iinn tthehe UUnitednited SStates.tatate s .Similar r HenryHenrenry DarlingDarling (Left),(Lefftt), programprogram leaderl eader, instrumentali nstnstrumental inin USDAUSDA plantplant pathologistpathologist WW.A..A. OOrtonrton had sstudiedtudied potpotatoatato establishingestablishing tthehe UUniversityniversity sseedeed ffarfarm.arm. certificationcertification inin GermanyGermaanyny and upon hihiss returnreturn began ttoo wworkork withwith potatopotato growersgrowers and UUniversitiesniversities ttoo iintroducentroduce tthosehoshose conceptsconcepts here.here. A CenturyCenturu ry LongL ong Tradition:Tradition: The WisconsinW is cons in IdeaIdea TheThe WisconsinWisconsonsin SeedSeed PPotatootato CertificationCertificationon PProgramrogram has been EffortsEfforts bbyy WWisconsinisco nsin growersggrrowers ledled toto thethe establishmentestablishmentent of tthehe The WisconsinWisconsin SeedSeed PotatoPotaatto IImprovementmprovement AssociationAssociation iinn 1905. p administeredadm inister eed d ssinceince iinception ncept io n by tthehe CCollegeo llegeege of AAgriculturalgric ultural TheThe WisconsinW isc onsin CollegeCollege e off AgricultureAgric ultu re had been engagiengagingng andand LifeLife SSciences,ciences , UUniversityn iversity of WWisconsin isconsin - Madison.Mad ison. TheThe withwith thethe growergr ower ccommunity ommuni ty alalreadyready ttoo iimprovem prove potpotatoato programprogra m retainsreettains a ffull-timeull-time staffstaff ofof experiencedexperienced professionalsprofessionals Tproductionpro duction tthroughhro ugh specialspecpec ial tteachingeaching rrailcarsail cars tthathat ttraveledr avelaveled toto ensureensure tthoroughnesshoroughness aandnd iimpartialitympartiality iinn iinspectionnspection and throughthro ugh potatopotato areasa reas inin nnorthernorth ern WWisconsin,is con sin, cacalledlle d ““PotatoPota to certificationcertificationon procedures.procedures. And for 100 years, the University Specials.”Specials.” The CollegeColl egeege prprogrammingogr amming ememphasizedphasi zed tthe he r standardizationstandar dizationon and puritypur i ty off potpotatoat o varieties.varieties. The WisconsinWWiisconsiinn IdeaIdea, isis thatthat thethe UniversityUniversity isis iinvolvednvolved iinn wherewhere youyouou lliveive and wwork.o rk. AndA nd fforor 100 years,yearears, tthehe UUniversityniversity The College programming emphasized the A conventionconvention waswas helheldd iinn RhinelanderRhinelander NNovemberovember 2020-21-21 of remainsremains a keykey partnerpartner wwithith WWisconsinisconsin sseedeedeed ppotatootato ggrowers,rowers, a s 19131913 toto discussdiscuss “Pure“Pure SSeedeed of SStandardtandard MMarketarket VVarietiesarieteties fforor relationshiprelationship tthathat sstrengthenstrengthens bboth.oth. AllAll CommercialCommercial PPurposes.”urposposes.” AAtt tthishis cconvention,onvention, a formalformal planplan forf or iinspectionnspection aandnd cecertificationrtific a tion of potatopotato seedseed wwasas put iintonto place.place . The ffirstirst off now manymany officialoff icial sseedeed iinspection nspection ThroughThro ugh This providingprp specialrovidin grelationship iinformation,nformatio ton, theexercisingexe academicrcising ttechnicale chnical skiskill,ll, programspr ograms inin NorthNo rth AAmericamerica wwas Atas thisesestablishedta blconvention,ished and ffully uall yformal plan c doingdoing rresearchesearear ch didirected rected at ssolving olv ing prproblems,obleem ms, anda nd conductingconducting f implementedim plemented withwith ffieldield iinspectionsnspectio ns iinn 1914. The ssameamam e outreachoutre ach activities,activities, thethe UniversityUniver sity meetsm eets thethe growersgrow ers aatt thethe objectivesobjec t ivThees ofo firstf “varietal“var ofie tnowal ppurity”ur manyity” andan officiald ““freedomfree dseedom fromfr oinspectionm ddisease”iseeasase” fieldfield llevel.evel. ThisThis spspecialecial rrelationshipelationship ttoo tthehe acaacademicdemic pdetermineddetermined fromfrom fieldfie ld iinspectionsnspec tions rremainemain ttoday.oday. communitycommunity bringsbrings new iinformationnformation on patpathogens,hhogensogens, besbestt The same practices,pra ctices , and introducesintr oduces hihighg h qualqualityity basbasic ic sseedeed iintont o tthehe oStateState SeedSe ed FarmFarm marketplace.mark etplacace. A reliablereliable ssource ource off hihigh-quality,g h-quality, P OOn n tthehe ccover:over : disease-freedisease-free basicbasic seedseeedd stocksstocks waswas WWisconsinisconsin cercertifiedtified seed potpotatoato grgrowers,owers, seed cercertificationtificatcation ststaffaffff and UUniversityniversity andand remainsremains esessentialsentiaall ttoo tthehe sstrengthtrength ooff WWisconsinisconsi n rresearcherse searc her s ggathered athere d aatt tthehe LLangladeanglade AAgriculturalgrgr icultu ral RResearch esearch andand growthgrowth off Wisconsin’sWiscoonsnsin’s ccertifiedertified SStationtation in AAntigo.ntigtigo. seedseed potatopotato program.program. The UUniversityniversity oof PPicturedicture d ((L-RL-R))-- aare:re: FFrontront RowRow - BBryan ryan BBowen,ow en, LeonarLeonardd WWild, ild, DDan an WWild,ild, WisconsinWisconsin LelahLe lah SStarkst arks EElite lite FFrankrank SSeidl,ei dl, DDwayne wayne GGuenthner,uent hner , DDan a n HHafner,afn er, EEricric SSchroeder,chhrroeder , RRono n KKrueger,ruuegereger, FoundationFoundat ion SeedS eed PotatoPotaatt o FarFarm m iinn JJoshosh MMattek,a ttek, AAdamdam BBula,ula , MMikeike BBaginski,agi nski , TTeded BBaginski,a ginnskiski, JrJr.,., John HHafnerafner and RhinelanderRh inelander has been tthehe WWisconsin isconsin DDonon KKichefski;ichefski; SSecondecond RRowow - RRickick HHafner,afner, JJoleneolene SSpurSpurgeon,purgeon, KKenen RRine,ine, DDanan seedseed potatopotato growers’growers’ prprimaryimary ssourceource oof RRine,ine, JJimim FassbenderFFassbender,assbender, JJeffeff FFassbender,assbender, JJimim MMattek,attek, JJohnohn TT.. SSchroeder,chroeder, RRonon MMach,ach, CCharliehar lie MMattek,att ek, MMatt att MMattek,att ek, MMichael ichael HHartman, artm an, JJimim GGallenberg,alle nberg, DDavidavid newnew and esestablished tablis hheded didisease-testse ase- test GGallenberga llenberg andand AAmymy CCharkowski;hark owski; TThirdhird rowrow - JJamesamese s MMeyer,ey er, DiannaDianna KKessler,essler, potatopotato varietiesvarieties sincesince 1941. TTomom WWild,ild , JJohnohno hn GGallenberg,a llenber g, RRoyo y GGallenberg,al lenberg, AArtrt SSeidl,eidldl, BBillill GGuenthner,uent hner, Tom Certified seed potato farms not represented include: David SSchmidt,chmidt, John HHein,ein, BBobob GGuenthner,uenthner, MMikeike FFischer,ischer, MMikeike SShafel,hafel, MMarkusarkus PropagationPropagation off ddiseasei sease ffreeree sstocktock and F Miss Lelah Starks SShafel,hafel, JiJimm SShafelhafhafel and AAmandamanda GGevens;evens; FFourthourth rowrow - AAlexlex CCrockford,rockford, KKevinevin aattentiontten tion ttoo cclonallonal sselectionelece ction wweree re kkeyey ttoo tthehe ssuccessuccess off tthishis prprogram.ogrogram. In BBula,ula, DDavidavid BulBBula,ula, EEdd BBula,ula, AAidanidan HHafner,afner, BBrianrian BunnelBBunnell,unnell, DDanan KKakes,akes, JJustinustin BBula,ula, AAJJ BBussan,ussan,ussan, KKyleyle ZZarda,arda, CChadhad RRomenesko,omenesko, DDaveave HHafner,afner, KKevinevin HHafner,afner, 11984,984, a 10001000-acre-acre ffarmarm bbecameecame hhomeome ooff tthehe UUWW ffarmarm RRobob SSchroeder,chroederoeder, KKenen MMach,ach, RRickick PParilek,arilek, RRussuss GGroves,roves,oves, JJeded CColquhounolquhoun and ooperationperation at tthehehe bequesbequestt of MMississ LLelahelah SStarks,tarks, a pipioneeroneer DDuaneuane MMaatz.aatz. CCertifiedertified sseedeed ppotatootato ffarmsarms nnotot rrepresentedepresentesented iinclude:nclude: DDavidavid PWWisconsinisconsin sseed eed potpotatoato grgrower. owe r. FFleischmanleischman FFarms,arms, FFrito-Lay,rito-Lay, IInc.,nc., andand VVermontermont VValleyalleyey CCommunityommunity FFarms.arms. 4 5 Welcome! Please Please note note that t the acreage data listed in T Tolerances for Certified and Foundation Seed this directory represent acres meeting field tolerances for Potato Classes in Wisconsin foundation and certified class seed potatoes in Wisconsin at the completion of summer field inspections . Wisconsin seed potatoes are classified as "certified" or "foundation", depending on disease and mixture levels and All certified and foundation class seed potatoes in intended use. Tolerances Tolerances for forcertified certified class class are are set setto meet to meet Wisconsin are post-harvest tested to ensure compliance m minimum acceptable standards for commercial production with certification requirements. As such,