DisplayTitle

​​​

Sklarczyk Seed Farm (SSF), Johannesburg MI, focuses on hard work and new ideas.  The farm was purchased by Dons's parents in1942. In the 1980’s, SSF adopted tissue culture to reduce latent virus and symptomless bacteria in seed potatoes. In the 1990’s, SSF switched from artificial media to hydroponics. SSF produced more than 5,000,000 mini tubers in 2014. These are planted in over 250A in the USA, Canada, Chile, Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt, Mexico, Egypt and Brazil. What started as an idea from advances in science has global impact. SSF interacts with the MI Seed Potato Assoc., MI Potato Industry Com. and National Potato Council. These connect researchers and growers for the best research possible. Accountability is front and center. SSF has had input on proposals for NIFA, ARS and SARE. This facilitates<i>Connecting Advances in Science to Meet Real World Crop Production Needs</i>. Crop failures are prevented by connecting  researchers and growers. With global trade, risk of exotic pathogens is not science fiction. Today soil health is being addressed in cooperation with academia and government. Where must we go to keep up with future needs? Ideas and concepts from human research and overall human ingenuity will be used.  Partners will widen to areas not currently involved. Concepts like these unite researches and farmers, looking to the future and exploring ideas outside the traditional box.