DENVER – Bruce Roope of Presque Isle and Keith Doyen of Mapleton were seated as board members on the United States Potato Board (USPB) at the organization’s 38th annual meeting held March 9-12 in Denver.
They were named to serve on the board by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack March 2 for a three-year term ending Feb. 28, 2013. New board members serving on the USPB in their first three-year term can be reappointed to serve another consecutive three-year term.
At Aroostook Valley Farms, Roope has been growing potatoes for 38 years. He produces Shepody and Russets for frozen processing. Soybeans and small grains are grown in rotation.
Roope is a past president of the Maine Potato Board and a director for the National Potato Council. He is past board chairman for the Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District, past president of the Maine Association of Conservation Districts, a director from Maine for the National Association of Conservation Districts, a board of director and past member for the Maine Farm Bureau and a member of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension County Committee.
A graduate of Presque Isle High School, Roope enjoys spending time outdoors. He and his wife, Dolores, have two daughters, Kristie Moir and Jody Shaw.
Doyen has been involved with potato production as a seed and table-stock grower for over 30 years at Willard C. Doyen & Sons, a family farming business. He produces Atlantic, Beacon Chipper, Dark Red Norland, Eva, Katahdin, Reba, Russet Burbank, Shepody, Superior and Yukon Gold potatoes. Barley, canola and oats are grown in rotation.
“I represent the third generation of growers on this farm, and we now have the fourth generation farming with us,” Doyen said.
Doyen is a member of the Seed Executive Council, Maine Potato Board and the Maine Seed Potato Board. He also serves on the board of directors for the Maine Potato Growers Cooperative. In his community, Doyen serves on the Mapleton board of assessors, and is a former Mapleton board of selectman and sewer district trustee.
Doyen attended the University of Maine at Orono and holds an associate’s degree in resource and business management. In 1996, he was honored as the Maine Young Farmer of the Year.
He enjoys snowmobiling, bird hunting, golfing and fishing. He is married to Beth Doyen, and they have two children, a son, Matthew, 21, and a daughter, Paige, 15.
Authorized under the 1971 Potato Research and Promotion Act, the USPB is composed of producers, importers and a public member appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Producer members are nominated at state and local producer meetings and by mail ballot. Each state is entitled to at least one producer member, and additional members are allotted on the basis of the volume of production. Importer members are nominated by importers, and the number of members is related to the volume of imports, up to a maximum of five importer members.
The USPB administers an industry-funded national research and promotion program to increase U.S. exports and domestic potato consumption. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service oversees the operations of the USPB. More information about the research and promotion programs is available at www.ams.usda.gov/FVPromotion.
