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  B854: Cost of Producing Milk in Maine: Results from the 2013 Cost-of-Production Survey

  Xuan Chen,; Gary Anderson; Dylan Bouchard; Julia McGuire; George K. Criner; and David Marcinkowski

  The state of Maine has a unique tier-pricing program for dairy farms, established in 2004, which has been funded by milk-handling fees paid by processors. Given the nature of volatile production costs in dairy farming, it is important to update the baseline cost estimates for each tier every three years. This study aims to provide a precise baseline estimate of cost of production for each tier so that state legisla­tors can better manage the tier-pricing program. The authors provide a historic overview of past Maine dairy cost-of-production studies. They analyze the trend of the cost of producing milk in Maine since 2010 using historic data of Maine dairy cost-of-production studies and evaluate their results by comparing them with other dairy cost studies. In general, this empirical study provides a comprehensive assessment of the cost of producing milk in Maine.

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  B853: Cost of Producing Milk in Maine: Results from the 2010 Dairy Cost of Production Survey

  Richard Kersbergen, Gary Anderson, George Criner, and Anthony Davis

  The present study reports on a survey conducted for the Maine Milk Commission to determine the cost of milk production for 2010. This assessment was undertaken sooner than the normal three-year update because of the difficult economic climate for dairy farms in Maine.

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  B852: Organic Wild Blueberry Production

  Frank Drummond, John Smagula, Seanna Annis, and David Yarborough

  Recent research carried out under the auspices of a USDA organic transition grant resulted in a better understanding of the interaction of wild blueberry production tactics such as pruning method, soil pH reduction by sulfur (S) application, and organic fertilizer rates on wild blueberry growth, development, and yield. This bulletin is the product of what we have learned over the past four years of this research project.

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  B851: A Comparative Analysis of Organic Dairy Farms in Maine and Vermont: Farm Financial Information from 2004 to 2006

  Timothy J. Dalton, Robert Parsons, Richard Kersbergen, and Glenn Rogers

  The purpose of this bulletin is to provide an insight into the relative financial performance of organic dairy farming through the examination of three years of detailed farm financial records. Farm financial records were collected in person by trained enumerators from organic dairy operations in Maine and Vermont for the 2004–2006 production years. These farm records are complemented by surveys on farm and farmer characteristics along with farmers’ motivational interests for organic dairy production and performance satisfaction. This report, therefore, provides a rich financial perspective on the evolution of organic dairy farming performance unlike single-season surveys.

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  B850: Representative Farm Budgets and Performance Indicators for Integrated Farming Practices in Maine

  Aaron K. Hoshide, Timothy J. Dalton, and Stewart N. Smith

  This report compares the relative profitability and sustainability of Maine farms integrating crops and livestock with comparable non-integrated or conventional farms. Potato and dairy systems coupled for only two years had greater profitability compared to conventional systems. Profitability increased in the short term in two ways. First, potato farms grew more of their primary cash crop. Second, dairy farms expanded cow numbers, increasing profitability assuming increasing returns to scale. Coupled systems integrated for more than ten years (long term) had more favorable profitability and sustainability measures than short-term couplers since greater manure-nutrient credits were taken for potatoes and silage corn. The picture improved even more if potato yields increased in the long term, as suggested by long-term rotation plot studies in Maine. Even if coupling is more profitable than nonintegrated systems, it still requires farms to be in close proximity and for farmers to have adequate working relationships.

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  B849: Drought-tolerant Small Trees for Maine Landscapes

  Reeser C. Manley

  This publication describes five species that have proven to be reliably cold hardy in Orono (USDA Zone 5a) and that meet many, if not all, of the criteria for exceptional landscape trees. In addition, these five species are currently uncommon in Maine landscapes and thus represent potentially new products and new opportunities for the Maine landscape and nursery industries: Acer miyabei, Miyabe Maple; Acer triflorum, Three-flower Maple; Cercis canadensis, Eastern Redbud; Maackia amurensis, Amur Maackia; Prunus sargentii, Sargent Cherry.

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  B848: Economic Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Wood Beams

  Noel D. Stevens and George K. Criner

  This study assesses the costs of producing an innovative structural beam developed at the University of Maine that employs Maine’s underutilized timber resources. The new beams are composite beams that are made by reinforcing glue-laminated timber beams, commonly known as glulam, with fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) in the tension region of the beam. The current study addresses the following research objectives: (1) developing cost models for a range of FRP-reinforced eastern hemlock and non-reinforced southern pine glulam beam alternatives; and (2) conducting sensitivity analyses on key cost parameters.

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  B847: Review of Potential Pasteurization Methods for Apple Cider

  Mark P. Garland and Darrell W. Donahue

  The main focus of this paper is to review the pasteurization methods that can be applied to the needs of the apple industry and to recommend further research. In addition to the review of methods, we conducted a sensory evaluation of cider to evaluate the acceptability of various pasteurized samples. This review of potential methods for product treatment will serve as an informative study with recommendations for future processing. Although not an exhaustive survey, conventional methods and the most promising new techniques are discussed.

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  B843: The Ecology, Economics, and Management of Potato Cropping Systems: A Report of the First Four Years of the Maine Potato Ecosystem Project

  A. Randall Alford, Francis A. Drummond, Eric R. Gallandt, Eleanor Groden, David A. Lambert, Matt Liebman, Michele C. Marra, Jeffrey C. McBurnie, Gregory A. Porter, and Bacilio Salas

  The bulletin reports on the first four years of the Maine Potato Ecosystem Project, a long-term, multidisciplinary study of alternative crop management strategies. The study site is a 15-acre tract on the northern boundary of the University of Maine's Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle, Maine, divided into 96 main plots that are grouped into four blocks. Each block is an area where soil survey data show similar soil characteristics. Thus, given the same production inputs, the crop output is expected to be the same on each plot within a block. Within each block there are 24 plots to which the different treatments have been randomly assigned. A treatment is a particular combination of the following factors: (1) pest management—conventiorial, reduced input, or biological; (2) potato variety—Atlantic or Superior; and (3) soil management—amended or unamended.

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  B846: Growing Season Parameter Reconstructions for New England Using Killing Frost Records, 1697-1947

  William R. Baron and David C. Smith

  In New England, killing frosts in the late spring and early fall mark the limits of the region's growing seasons. Over the years, farmers have tried to anticipate when to plant and when to harvest to safely prevent their crops from experiencing the harmful effects of freezing. As a hedge against failing memory, some farmers kept notes on when killing frosts occurred so that they could more readily calculate in the years to come when to sow and when to reap. Some of these notes have survived and are now preserved in archives and libraries across the region, or remain the proud possessions of later generations of the same families. The growing season records reconstructed for this bulletin are based on data taken from these diaries, farm journals, notebooks, and scraps of paper and represent the observations of several generations of New England farmers.

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  B844: Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Maine Third Revision

  Christopher S. Campbell, Heman P. Adams, Patricia Adams, Alison C. Dibble, Leslie M. Eastman, Susan C. Gawler, Linda L. Gregory, Barbara A. Grunden, Arthur D. Haines, Ken Jonson, Sally C. Rooney, Thomas F. Vining, Jill E. Weber, and Wesley A. Wright

  This is the third revision of the Checklist of Vascular Plants of Maine. Like its predecessors, it lists all ferns and related plants, conifers, and flowering plants native and naturalized in Maine and records their county-level distribution in the state. The first Check- list (Ogden et al. 1948) was based on specimens in herbaria at the University of Maine (hereafter referred to as MAINE), Portland Society of Natural History, New England Botanical Club, Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, and the private collection of Glen D. Chamberlain of Presque Isle, Maine (now part of MAINE). Bean et al. (1966) revised the checklist to include additions to the flora and update the nomenclature to follow Fernald (1950). Richards et al. (1983) added many new state and county records in the second revision.

  The purpose of this revision is twofold. First, we have included many new county and state records. Since Richards et al. (1983) there has been considerable collecting in Maine, much of it directed at searching for new state and county records in relatively neglected regions of the state. Second, there have been numerous changes in the scientific names of Maine plants since Fernald (1950), the nomenclatural basis of Richards et al. (1983). We have largely followed Kartesz's (1994) nomenclature (see "Taxonomy and Nomenclature" section). Recent work on rare plants and establishment of an official list of endangered and threatened plants in Maine (Dibble et al. 1989; Maine State Planning Office 1990) also motivate updating the known distribution and taxonomy of Maine's flora.

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  B845: The Cost of Doing Business and Economic Performance in Maine: A Regional Comparison

  Thomas G. Allen and Dennis A. Watkins

  This study attempts to address the need for better understanding of those business climate factors that have a direct and measurable impact upon statewide economic performance by comparing several key costs faced by businesses in each of the New England states, and by examining how those costs relate to general economic conditions in each state.

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  B839: Black Bear Hunting in Maine: Do Hunter Characteristics Affect Opinions Regarding Hunting Regulations

  Ramona ElHamzaoui, Kevin Boyle, Craig McLaughlin, and Jim Sherburne

  In recent years, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W) has implemented several changes in hunting regulations to counter a steady increase in the harvest of Maine's black bears (Ursus americanus). These include several changes made during the early 1980s and a number of major changes that started with the 1990 hunt. The research reported in this paper considers hunters' opinions regarding current and proposed hunting regulations for black bears in Maine.

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  B840: Firm Formation, Firm Failure, and Competitiveness: An Overview of Maine's Entrepreneurial Economy

  Dennis A. Watkins and Thomas G. Allen

  The purpose of this paper is to establish a basic understanding of Maine's entrepreneurial economy. The competitiveness of Maine's small businesses, reflected in rates of firm formation and firm failure, is important to future economic growth and policy development. Previous research has pointed to the high proportion of small businesses operating in Maine, but questions concerning their entrepreneurial dynamism remain unanswered. Developing a useful policy response for future economic growth dictates that the following questions be fully explored: (1) What is the current state of Maine's entrepreneurial base and how does this base compare with other states in the New England region? (2) How is this base changing with respect to firm formation and business failures, and are there sectors of emerging strength and competitiveness? (3) Are there rural/urban differences that form a potential basis for policy differentiation? (4) What are the crucial elements of entrepreneurship and associated policy development for economic growth in Maine?

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  B841: Maine's Household Garbage

  George K. Criner, Jonathan D. Kaplan, Svjetlana Juric, and Nicholas R. Houtman

  The objective of this report is to present findings from an analysis of Maine's nonbulky domestic waste stream.

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  B837: New Approaches to Chemical Control of White Pine Weevil Damage

  John B. Dimond and Richard L. Bradbury

  There has been little recent research on control of damage by the white pine weevil, and available insecticides have been few and have become obsolete. Tests in Canada suggested that the insect growth-regulating chemical diflubenzeron was effective, and we have successfully repeated those tests in Maine using several formulations of Dimilin and several ground application systems. Aerial trials have not succeeded; the probable reasons for their failure are discussed. We present a general description of the weevil and its damage, approaches to control of damage, and specific recommendations for use of ground applications of Dimilin, which has recently become registered for this use.

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  B838: The Amphibians and Reptiles of Maine

  Malcolm L. Hunter Jr., John Albright, and Jane Arbuckle

  In 1984, Maine's biologists were faced with decisions about which Maine vertebrate animals should be listed as endangered or threatened under the state's new Endangered Species Act. It became clear that there was not enough information about Maine's herps to make informed decisions so John Albright, Jane Arbuckle, and Malcolm Hunter initiated the Maine Amphibian and Reptile Atlas Project, or MARAP, with the support of our organizations (the Natural Heritage Program of The Nature Conservancy, the Maine Audubon Society, and the University of Maine Wildlife Department, respectively) and the assistance of the Endangered and Nongame Wildlife Fund of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The project was successful. Over 250 people responded to the call for volunteers, received an instruction manual, and were soon mailing in cards recording where and when they found herps. The first two years were the most productive, and we were able to make some reasonable decisions about which species should be listed as endangered or threatened. In the last three years of the project the number of record cards submitted declined, probably because volunteers stopped finding new herps in their area, but we continued to receive hundreds of cards each year through 1989. When we began the project we knew that our objective was to write a book about Maine herps and thus spread interest in herps beyond the ranks of MARAP volunteers. As MARAP came to an end we modified our idea; we decided to capitalize on the expertise, energy, and enthusiasm of our volunteers by asking them to write the book. We found authors for each species; gave them a general outline, literature citations, and some key papers; and asked them to write an account that fellow naturalists would find interesting and informative. We believe they have succeeded and are confident that this book will foster a greater appreciation for amphibians and reptiles among Maine's naturalists and students.

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  B833: A Residential Waste Stream Analysis: Orono, Maine, 1990

  George K. Criner, Steven L. Jacobs, and Chet A. Rock

  George Criner and Chet Rock of the University of Maine, and students from their Waste Management class analyzed household wastes from 33 residences in Orono. The purpose of the analysis was to obtain an estimate of total weekly residential waste weight and its composition by category (paper versus glass, etc.).

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  B834: An Economic Analysis of Crops Grown in Rotation with Potatoes in Aroostook County, Maine

  John V. Westra and Kevin J. Boyle

  This bulletin examines rotations of potatoes with alternative crops to identify net revenue-maximizing rotations in Aroostook County, Maine.

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  B835: Landfills and Municpal Solid Waste in Maine

  George K. Criner, John M. Halstead, Elizabeth Curtin, and Steven C. Deller

  Municipal leaders need current information about alternative disposal methods to make rational decisions on handling their town's waste. To provide an overview of landfilling and other waste-handling methods used in the upper New England states, a group of university researchers from New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont initiated a study of landfills and solid waste management practices. The study involved a comprehensive mail survey of municipalities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. This report focuses upon and discusses the results of the landfill and solid waste management survey for Maine.

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  B836: Financing Rural Roads and Bridges in the Northern New England States

  Steven C. Deller and John M. Halstead

  Although general information pertaining to the quantity and quality of rural infrastructure across the nation is available in a patchwork of studies, information specific to New England is lacking. The lack of information related to the most important rural infrastructure, the local road and bridge system, is particularly disturbing. The local road system is of vital importance to rural residents and businesses. This system provides links between rural residents and employment opportunities, shopping districts, and health care facilities, in addition to the links it provides rural businesses with markets. Because of the concern for the deteriorating condition of the local road system and the financial difficulties facing the local governments vested with the responsibility for maintaining and repairing the local road system, the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development authorized this study of the local road system in the three states composing northern New England: Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Primary information was gathered through mail survey of town road officials. The study was designed to complement other studies of the local road network in other parts of the U.S. The study focuses on financing patterns and the condition of the existing local road network. Special attention is paid to the management practices followed in maintaining the local road network in an attempt to assess the need for improving managerial practices, abilities, and institutional arrangements. Specific recommendations for improving the delivery of transportation services are provided in the summary of the report

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  B829: Addison—Its Persistencies and Changes

  Louis A. Ploch

  In 1947, at the request of the Maine Agricultural Extension Service, personnel of the USDA and Extension Service studied three Maine towns: Addison, in Washington County; Easton, in Aroostook County; and Turner, in Androscoggin County. The purpose of the studies was to determine the factors related to participation in Extension and other community-based activities; results of the research were summarized in Hay et al. (1949). The 1986-89 study of Addison analyzed in this publication is a component of a research project that focuses also on Easton and Turner and Landaff, New Hampshire. The current study is not, per se, a duplication of the earlier research. The two projects employed different research methodologies. In the 1986-1989 series of studies, the author relied on key informants to obtain data related to the structure and functioning of key institutions in the four communities and focused on social change in each of the communities. To obtain the necessary data for each of the major social institutions—economics, education, family, government, religion, and the process of social stratification—the author interviewed residents of the town and personnel of relevant institutions and agencies. During the three-year observation and interviewing process, the author interviewed more than 50 Addison residents. All formal interviews were tape recorded and later transcribed. The author also used town reports, a published history, local documents, and newspapers.

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  B830: An Atlas of the Native Woody Plants of Maine: A Revision of the Hyland Maps

  Janet S. McMahon, George L. Jacobson Jr., and Fay Hyland

  In 1944 Fay Hyland and Ferdinand Steinmetz published The Woody Plants of Maine: Their Occurrence and Distribution. This small bulletin catalogs the state's native and exotic trees, shrubs, and woody vines. In-state distributions are given for 513 taxa, including 366 species, Ill varieties and named forms, and 36 hybrids. Hyland collected information for this comprehensive work from three sources: a systematic field survey of the state which he personally conducted between 1933 and 1939; a review of botanical publications on Maine flora; and herbarium records from the New England Botanical Club, Gray Herbarium, Arnold Arboretum, the Boston Society of Natural History, the Portland Society of Natural History, and several private collections. Eighteen thousand records were assembled through the field survey alone. These records, along with those tabulated from herbaria, were plotted by species on small-scale (1:1,000,000) maps of Maine. Written descriptions of each taxon were summarized from the resulting maps and compiled into the bulletin described above. The distribution maps themselves, however, were never published. The single (original) copy of Hyland's maps has been kept in the Special Collections of the University of Maine's Fogler Library since 1944. The ink used to mark species occurrences on those maps is now fading sufficiently to endanger the records.

  To preserve this valuable resource and to evaluate patterns of species' richness in Maine, maps of all native species were digitized using AUTOCAD (1988). In all, 240 species meet Hyland's definition of woody plants ("those plants with ligneous, perennial [biennial in Rubus] stems which increase in diameter each year by formation of annual rings") and the criterion of natural occurrence. This includes varieties and subspecies that are the sole representative of a given species as well as 10 taxa whose distributions were not documented by Hyland (Table 1). Because new stations have been documented for many species in the nearly 50 years since the original distribution maps were prepared, specimens in the University of Maine Herbarium and the publication Rare Vascular Plants of Maine were used to update Hyland's maps. A new record was noted only if it clarified or extended the range boundary of a species.

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  B831: The Role of Human Capital in the Adoption of Conservation Tillage: The Case of Aroostook County, Maine, Potato Farmers

  Michele C. Marra and Beatrice C. Ssali

  Given the continuing potential loss from soil erosion and the significant effort put forth recently to alleviate the problem in Aroostook County, it is important to study ways to improve the success rate of that effort. One way to improve the soil loss problem is for farmers to adopt conservation tillage practices for those areas where there are significant benefits from doing so. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics important in the adoption decisions of Aroostook County farmers. The Maine results will be compared with results from a study in Iowa to identify any differences in the decisionmaking process in Maine relative to Iowa.

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  B832: The Profitability of Supplemental Irrigation for Maine Potatoes

  Michele C. Marra and Timothy A. Woods

  The question has arisen among Maine potato growers and other industry personnel whether irrigation technologies can be transferred successfully into humid growing areas such as in Maine and whether they can benefit the Maine potato industry. This report presents the findings of a stud y that attempts to answer the question of whether adoption of two of these newer technologies might be profitable for an individual grower in Maine.

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  B823: Transporting Fresh Blueberries from Maine to the Boston Market: A Look at the Economic Alternatives

  Antonia L. Hoelper and Michele C. Marra

  A study was initiated at the University of Maine to investigate various transportation alternatives available to marketers of fresh blueberries and similar fresh-market enterprises to determine economies of size in shipping. Several methods of economic analysis, including partial budgeting and break-even analysis, were used to assess the feasibility of several transportation alternatives. The alternatives analyzed were (1) contract shipping services, while using various percentages of truck capacity, (2) purchase of a truck and large trailer (20,000 Ibs capacity), and (3) purchase of a truck and smaller trailer (10,000 Ibs capacity).

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  B824: Turner—A Study in Persistence and Change

  Louis A. Ploch

  This study of Turner, Maine, is one of four research projects sponsored jointly by the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. The purpose of the research series is to trace the processes of persistency and change in four northern New England towns. Easton, Addison, and Turner, Maine, were studied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the Maine Cooperative Extension Service in 1948 (Hay et al. 1949). Landaff, New Hampshire, was one of six communities comprising the series entitled Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the post-depression era (MacLeish and Young 1942).

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  B825: A Comparison of Lowbush Blueberry Harvesting Technologies: Experimental and Economic Results from the 1988 Field Tests in Washington County, Maine

  Michele C. Marra, Timothy A. Woods, Russell Parker, Nu Nu San, and Mario F. Teisl

  The describes research that evaluated the new mechanical harvesting technologies for wild blueberries and compared them to the traditional technology of hand raking under different assumptions about prices, costs, farm size, and yield. It provides information to growers about the circumstances where mechanical harvesting will be most useful and where the hand rakers can be used to the best advantage.

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  B826: The Structure of Economic Growth in Maine and New England

  Steven C. Deller

  The research reported in this bulletin employs the shift-share method by examining the growth patterns (1981-1986) in the economic structure of Maine and New England. The first section briefly describes the shift-share method and its limitations. The second section describes data employed and is followed by an empirical comparison of Maine to other New England states. Next, a detailed analysis of Maine's sub-regions (i.e., counties) is presented, and the bulletin closes with a short summary of the results and policy implications.

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  B827: Toward a Cooperative Marketing Strategy for Fresh Wild Blueberries

  Timothy A. Woods, Michele C. Marra, and James D. Leiby

  Marketing wild blueberries as a fresh product has become an increasingly viable alternative for Maine wild blueberry producers. This bulletin presents the results of research that identified marketing regions with the greatest profit potential for fresh wild blueberries and whether there are packaging or promotional strategies that are likely to be more successful than others within these regions. The authors analyze retail demand for fresh wild blueberries in Maine, Boston, and New York City, as well as describe the results of a survey of wholesale buyers of fresh blueberries in Boston. The conclusions based on the analysis of demand at these two levels of the marketing chain provide some interesting evidence with which to begin to develop a fresh wild blueberry marketing strategy.

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  B828: Landaff—Then and Now

  Louis A. Ploch

  This study of Landaff, New Hampshire, is one of four research projects sponsored jointly by the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. The purpose of the research series is to trace the processes of persistency and change in four northern New England towns. Easton, Addison, and Turner, Maine, were studied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the Maine Cooperative Extension Service in 1948 (Hay et al. 1949). Landaff, New Hampshire, was one of six communities comprising the series entitled Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the post-depression era (MacLeish and Young 1942).

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  B818: Preliminary Protocols for Sampling and Analysis of Ash and Sludge Amended Forest Soils

  Ivan J. Fernandez

  Over the past decade there has emerged a clear recognition that the escalating production of waste materials by society poses a serious problem, and that significant amounts of many waste materials must be recycled or disposed of by more ecologically integrated means. In Maine, we are fortunate to enjoy the benefits of a rural state rich in natural resources. It is these resources that provide the basis for many of our industries, well demonstrated by our forest resources so vital to the forest products industry and to Maine's economy.

  In recent years forests have also been looked to as a source of wood fuel for power generating facilities, and this trend is likely to continue. These and other activities lead to the generation of waste materials that may be considered either effluents, sludges, solid waste, or ash. Some processes can create materials laden with toxic organic compounds or heavy metals that pose serious threats to the environment. Others are relatively "clean" and interest in land applications of these materials has increased due to the high costs of landfilling. While agricultural lands may provide a cost effective receptor site for waste materials, these soils also are a direct conduit to the human food chain and may not be advisable sites when questions remain over potential health risks associated with a particular waste. Thus some of our extensive forest lands in Maine are being considered as sites for waste application and disposal, which holds promise when carefully carried out based on a scientific understanding of forest ecosystem responses.

  This bulletin offers some preliminary guidelines to serve as a starting point for the systematic assessment of the effects of ash and sludge application to northern New England forest soils.

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  B819: The Spruce Budworm Outbreak in Maine in the 1970's–Assessment and Directions for the Future

  Lloyd C. Irland, John B. Dimond, Judy L. Stone, Jonathan Falk, and Ellen Baum

  This report was initiated by the Maine Forest Service (MFS) in response to concerns that a serious effort was needed to capture the experiences and lessons learned during the 1970-85 spruce budworm outbreak in Maine. The report synthesizes the observations and experiences of land managers, as well as the principal results of recent scientific research on spruce budworm in Maine. This report briefly reviews budworm population dynamics and interactions with the forest, then describes the budworm's impacts in detail. It then reviews the three principal responses: survey and detection; spraying; and silviculture and salvage. It then offers an overview of the outbreak's effects and provides a summary of conclusions and recommendations for the future.

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  B820: Inmigration to Maine: 1975-1983

  Louis A. Ploch

  This publication is the capstone report of a series of research studies, begun in 1976, of inmigration to Maine. During the 1976-1984 period, three separate, but coordinated, studies were conducted by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. The impetus for the studies was the release in 1974 and 1975 of a series of population estimates by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. These data, and especially their analysis by Calvin Beale of the USDA, were confirmation that rural areas throughout the United States were growing as a result of inmigration from urban areas. Moreover, Maine, which had endured net outmigration and slow population growth for many decades, was one of the northern states that was gaining population most rapidly. This knowledge became the basis for the subsequent research. In it we attempted to determine who the migrants were, where they were coming from, and what the consequences were of their movement to Maine, particularly to its rural and small town communities. Maine communities will be affected for years to come by this influx of primarily young adults with high levels of managerial and professional training and experience. In addition to presenting the data from the three studies, the body of this report also explores the consequences of inmigration to Maine.

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  B821: Comparative Health Characteristics of Adolescent and Older Mothers and their Offspring in Maine

  Gary L. Schilmoeller and Marc D. Baranowski

  The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence of births in Maine from 1980 to 1984 and to profile the health and demographic characteristics of this population

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  B822: The Economic Benefits of Late-Season Black Fly Control

  Stephen D. Reiling, Kevin Boyle, Marcia L. Phillips, Vicki A. Trefts, and Mark W. Anderson

  The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) contracted with the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maine to study the economic benefits of black fly control. The DEP requested that the study focus on the benefits of late-season black fly control. This decision was based on the belief that any control program for black flies would be initially directed toward the late-season varieties since they primarily exist along the Penobscot River between the towns of Millinocket and Howland. The purpose of this report is to present the results of a study to measure the economic benefits of late-season black fly control. The study objectives were to (I) determine the attitudes of residents toward early- and late-season black flies and other pests in the study area; (2) Measure the economic benefits of late-season black fly control that would accrue to residents of the study area; and (3) determine the factors that influence the magnitude of the economic benefits of late-season black fly control.

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  B817: A Profile of the Farm Financial Sector in Maine

  John Scott Swanberg and Michele C. Marra

  The purpose of this report is to provide an integrated view of the current market for agricultural credit in Maine so that those responsible for policy in this area as well as producers and their associations will be able to make well informed decisions for the future.

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  B813: Harvesting Small Trees for Biomass

  Benjamin F. Hoffman Jr.

  This study evaluated precommercial, full-tree thinning of saplings and small poletimber (1-8 inches dbh) using chainsaws and modified farm tractors for skidders. To facilitate cutting large numbers of small trees (1-5 inches), the chainsaw was fitted with a felling frame. The cutter felled and manually bunched up to 145 trees/ 2.7 tons per productive man- hour. Average production, assuming 73% efficiency, was 90 trees/1.8 tons per scheduled hour at a cost of $6.22/ton. Skidding was done by a two-wheel drive grapple skidder and a four-wheel drive farm tractor with double-drum winch. The grapple skidder produced 3.8 tons per scheduled hour at a cost of $8.25 per ton, assuming a 75% utilization rate. The cable skidder produced 4 tons per scheduled hour at a cost of $7.00/ton; preset chokers increased production to 4.7 tons/hour at a cost of $5.96. The key to production was a modified herringbone pattern of corridors which facilitated skidder access to the wood. The weakest link in the operation was the difficult, labor-intensive work of felling and bunching.

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  B814: Performance Evaluations of Potato Clones and Varieties in the Northeastern States - 1985

  G. A. Porter, J. B. Sieczka, R. H. Cole, L. S. Morrow, D. Moyer, W. M. Sullivan, H. J. Murphy, R. Jensen, E. Kee, R. Tarn, O. S. Wells, R. J. Young, M. R. Henninger, S. Sterrett, D. A. Young, D. Halseth, and R. Precheur

  New potato clones and varieties must be tested against commercially accepted cultivars to determine If they possess advantages over existing varieties. Possible Improvements over the existing varieties could Include greater disease resistance or tolerance, higher yield, more uniform tuber size distribution, Improved storagability, good processing characteristics, etc. Often new cultivars are sought to fill local special-purpose needs. The cooperative potato variety trials reported In this bulletin were conducted to provide Information on the performance, adaptation, and performance stability of new potato clones under a wide range of geographic, climatic, soil, and cultural conditions. These tests are contributions to Regional Project NE-107 entitled, "Breeding and Evaluation of New Potato Clones for the Northeast."

  The objectives of this regional project are: 1). To develop high quality, widely adapted, productive, pest resistant potato varieties for use In the northeast; 2). To determine regional performance, quality, and storage characteristics for promising potato clones and new varieties; 3). To evaluate promising clones and varieties for special-purpose needs such as pest outbreaks, processing, export, specialized market opportunities and/or production situations; 4). To develop management practices such as plant population, fertilizer rate, disease, weed, and Insect control strategies that will I Improve the yield and/or quality of promising clones. Data presented In this report primarily address objectives 2 and 3.

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  B815: A Comparison of Small Single- and Double-Drum Cable Systems for Prebunching Partial Cuts

  Frederick M. Hathaway and Benjamin F. Hoffman

  This study evaluated two single-drum and two double-drum winching systems for prebunching small-diameter, tree-length stems from partial cuts. Three farm tractors with Farmi winches and one sled-mounted winch were used. One single-drum system was run by professional woods workers and the others were operated by forestry students. Three different types of chokers were used and a skid cone was used with two systems.

  The professional crew used a self-release block at the back of the trailside pile to avoid piling delays while the other systems used a spar tree. All systems were evaluated by time studies. The professional crew was the most efficient due to the use of the self-release block at the back of the pile, low setup time, fewer delays and high motivation. There was no significant advantage to using the skid cone nor were there significant differences among chokers.

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  B816: An Economic Analysis of a Maine Dairy Farm Anaerobic Digester

  George K. Criner, David F. Silver, F. Richard King, James D. Leiby, and Alan Kezis

  Anaerobic digestion is a method for decomposing organic matter, producing in the process, biogas, which is mostly methane. This process can be used to eliminate or reduce disagreeable and often environmentally harmful characteristics of wastes. During the autumn of 1984, the University of Maine began operation of an anaerobic digestion unit acquired from Agway, Inc., a large Northeastern agricultural cooperative. This system, installed at the Witter Animal Science Center, decomposes animal manures and ultimately produces electricity and hot water. A by-product of the system is a fertilizer with characteristics superior to fertilizers produced from biological wastes that have not undergone a process of anaerobic digestion. The research objectives were to (1) construct an economic-engineering model representing the waste to energy system, (2) quantify the benefits and costs of the system, (3) estimate the cash flows accruing over the lifespan of the system, (4) evaluate the model to determine the net present value of the system, and (5) evaluate alternative scenarios to determine the effect on economic feasibility.

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  B806: Performance Evaluations of Potato Clones and Varieties in the Northeastern States 1984

  H. J. Murphy, R. Jenson, D. E. Halseth, L. S. Morrow, M. R. Henninger, F. L. Haynes, D. A. Young, Janet Fallon, R. H. Cole, Richard Tarn, J. B. Sieczka, W. M. Sullivan, E. Kee, R. Loria, Susan Sterrett, O. S. Wells, and R. J. Young

  Cooperative potato clone and variety trials were conducted at 32 locations to determine field performance of selected clones and varieties grown under soil, climatic, and cultural management common to the potato growing areas of 12 cooperating states and the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. A few locations also evaluated storage and processing behavior of selected clones and varieties. These tests are contributions to Regional Project NE107 entitled, "Breeding and Evaluation of New Potato Clones for the Northeast." The primary objective of this project is to determine clone performance and stability over a wide range of soil, climate, and cultural conditions.

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  B807: A Study of the Maine Lamb Industry

  George Criner and Russell C. Parker

  This study of the Maine lamb industry is concerned not only with farm-level sheep and lamb production, but also with all aspects of the marketing chain—from the farm to the consumer. Although this study relies primarily upon Maine data the set of opportunities and constraints discussed are generally representative of those found throughout New England.

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  B808: An Annotated Bibliography of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station

  David C. Smith

  The Maine Agricultural Experiment Station is a venerable organization soon to celebrate its centennial year. As a research organization--its staff was early on called the Faculty of Investigation--members of the station staff have always presented the results of their efforts in a variety of publications both in-house and otherwise.

  Professor Smith has provided an annotated list of all station publications as well as some special papers of interest. Through the index to this bulletin, any interested person can readily locate material of particular interest and can easily determine whether or not it is worthwhile to go to the original publications for details.

  The index is a key to some 110 technical bulletins; 800 bulletins; 679 miscellaneous publications; 295 miscellaneous reports; many annual reports of the station, the college, and the State Board of Agriculture; the file of Maine Farm Research and its successor, Research in the Life Sciences; Update; the more recent reports from the College of Forest Resources (CFRU and FRRAC); a series of publicity letters dating from the early years of the station; certain publications from the Biology Laboratory and the Entomology Department; and the Proceedings of the State Pomological Society.

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  B810: Ectomycorrhizae of Maine 3. A Listing of Hygrophorus with Associated Hosts

  Richard L. Homola, Miroslaw M. Czapowskyj, and Barton M. Blum

  Hygrophori have been collected and identified with their possible ectomycorrhizal associates in Maine. Most of the ectomycorrhizal relationships reported from Maine were confirmed by the work of others. The information on edibility is from authors' popular mushroom guides. Colored photos of forty-four Hygrophori are included here.

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  B811: Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems Farms Crop Yield and Quality Relationships with Soil Erosion - 1982

  Paul R. Hepler, Lauren H. Long, Kenneth J. LaFlamme, and John H. Wenderoth

  This document presents the objectives and third-year results of the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems (FARMS) study. The principal objectives of FARMS were to study the relationship of crop yields to predicted soil erosion and to simulate the economics of this relationship. Crop management, soils, conservation practices and management, crop yields, soil chemistry, and sociological data were collected. The data analyzed in preparing this report are from the 800 plots sampled in 1982. This report presents statistics for rill and sheet soil erosion, which is estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and assumed to represent a long term rather than short term effect. The report also presents summary statistics for each of the factors in the USLE: for potato yields and quality, for yields of four other field crops, and for soil nutrient analyses.

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  B812: Dairy Farmer Indebtedness in Maine

  Wayne L. Thurston, George K. Criner, and Ralph A. Reeb

  The dairy industry in Maine is an important contributor to the agricultural sector and general economy. In 1982 there were 750 employees processing dairy products in Maine drawing a 12 million dollar payroll (Maine Bureau of Labor). The 1983 farm-gate value of milk produced in Maine totaled 108 million dollars, higher than any other single commodity's farm-gate value (Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources). For the past several years the farm level price of milk has remained fairly steady while production costs inflated. This "price-cost" squeeze worsened in 1983 with a 50 cent per hundredweight decrease in the price received by farmers which was authorized by the Dairy and Tobacco Adjustment Act of 1983.

  Limited public information is available concerning the financial health of Maine's dairy farming sector. This aspect is of crucial concern to policy makers in the state. Toward this end the Maine Dairy Industry Association requested that the University of Maine at Orono, in cooperation with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, conduct a study to provide an accurate overall picture of the financial structure and business management practices of Maine's dairy farms.

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  B792: The Development of the Ability to Select for Increased Milk Production: The Jersey Dairy Cow in Maine, 1900-1984

  John R. Paton and Barbara A. Barton

  Histories of dairying and dairy farming usually pass over one very important topic, the point of origin herself: the dairy cow. In the past 150 years, the period associated with the rise of commercial dairying in the U.S., she has not been a static creature. The story of her development is an important and exciting part of the history of dairying, but this development cannot be explained by such phrases as "feeding and management improved" or "breeding improved " . Since the dairy cow of the 1980s is not the same dairy cow of the 1830s, we should understand how this transition occurred and why it is important.

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  B801: Performance Evaluations of Potato Clones and Varieties in the Northeastern States 1983

  H. J. Murphy, R. J. Precheur, Chang-Chi Chu, L. S. Morrow, O. S. Wells, F. L. Haynes, R. H. Storch, R. Jensen, G. Dyer, D. A. Young, M. R. Henninger, E. C. Wittmeyer, Richard Tarn, J. B. Sieczka, R. H. Cole, R. A. Ashley, R. Loria, W. M. Sullivan, E. Kee, D. E. Halseth, and R. J. Young

  Cooperative potato clone and variety trials were conducted at 23 locations to determine field, storage, and processing behavior of selected clones and varieties grown under soil, climatic, and cultural management common to the potato growing areas of 13 cooperating states and the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. These tests are all contributions to Regional Project NE107 entitled, "Breeding and Evaluation of New Potato Clones for the Northeast." The primary objective of this project is to determine clone stability over a wide range of soil, climate, and cultural conditions.

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  B802: Base-Age Invariant Polymorphic Site Index Curves for Even-Aged Spruce-Fir Stands in Maine

  Bret P. Vicary, Thomas B. Brann, and Raph H. Griffin

  The spruce-fir forest cover type, occupying nearly 8 million acres in Maine, accounts for approximately 50 percent of the growing stock volume in the State. A similar portion of Maine's commercial forest land is owned and managed by forest industry, with spruce and fir being the mainstay of the industry.

  Analyses in recent years of Maine's timber supply have shown softwood removals to exceed growth. The dramatic effects of the spruce budworm (Choristoneura.fumiferana (Clemens)) on the spruce-fir forest of Maine has heightened concern over the timber supply. A greater emphasis on management is necessary if timber growth is to keep pace with demand. With increasing demand for timber, and the increasing value of timber products, intensive management is becoming economically feasible. High labor costs have led to an increase in mechanized harvesting. Consequently, the stage has been set for a greater emphasis on even-aged management of the spruce-fir forest type in Maine~ As red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.), black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.), white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) are the backbone of Maine's forest industry, it is desirable to identify those sites best suited to the growth of these species.

  An easily attained and sufficiently accurate method of estimating the relative quality of a particular site is essential to sound forest management. Site index, defined as being the height attained by the dominant stand at an arbitrarily chosen age, commonly 50 years in the northeastern United States, has been the most widely used measure of site quality. In addition to being an easily measured indicator of relative site quality, site index provides a crucial parameter in the estimation of the ultimate capability of forest land to produce wood volume.