Bangor-based business
to ‘refresh’ Maine Potato Board website
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The Maine Potato Board has hired Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications of Bangor to update its website, www.mainepotatoes.com.
“We want to refresh our website,” said Tim Hobbs, director of development and grower relations for the Maine Potato Board. “We want it to be seen as a source of information. There’s nothing worse than going to a website and seeing that it hasn’t been looked at in months.”
In addition, Hobbs said this will be the last year of the Maine Potato News, which for 26 years has been the official publication of the Maine Potato Board.
Also during last Thursday’s board meeting, directors heard two presentations. The first was from James Borys, director of fresh produce at Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. He was joined by Bill Ewing, interim executive director of the Good Shepherd Food Bank, and Nancy Perry, project director of Mainers Feeding Mainers.
Recognizing that in 2010, 48.8 million Americans (32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children) lived in “food insecure households,” the food bank representatives asked the board to consider being part of the solution.
“Ideally we would like to have potatoes donated,” said Borys, noting that potatoes were ranked five times of greater importance in terms of produce. “We’d like to have some sort of arrangement with the Maine Potato Board … maybe an endorsement or a partnership that would help our mission.”
No action was taken by the board at this time.
Hayes Gahagan, projects manager with Loring BioEnergy LLC, also updated the board on the natural gas pipeline/Loring bio-energy project.
Loring BioEnergy has a lease of a 200-mile-long pipeline running from Searsport to Loring, which was used to bring jet fuel to the base when it was in operation as the nation’s largest Strategic Air Command base.
Gahagan told directors that the company is interviewing pipeline operators and that it could be two years before seeing any action on the line.
It was also announced at the meeting that Brandon Berce of St. Agatha was chosen as the board’s 2012 Young Farmer of the Year.
Berce Farms grow seed potato varieties for Frito-Lay, and Berce serves on the Maine Potato Board’s seed growers’ executive council. He is also a member of the Central Aroostook Young Farmers.
Berce will be recognized and honored at the Maine Potato Board’s annual meeting in March.
The next regular board meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. in the board conference room.
