Susan Collins: “in a 2012 interview with a national agriculture magazine, Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board…”

“in a 2012 interview with a national agriculture magazine, Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, was asked what he would like to be the legacy of his long and productive career. His answer was this: ``that I was able to make a difference in the Maine potato industry and was able to lead the industry in a positive direction.'' Today, as Don retires after 27 years with the board, I am delighted to join his many friends and colleagues in offering my fellow Aroostook County native our thanks for a job well done and our congratulations for a legacy well secured. Don truly learned the potato industry from the ground up, beginning as a grower with a 250-acre farm. With a degree in agricultural resource economics from the University of Maine, he worked in rural economic development at the local and regional level for 13 years. Armed with that knowledge and experience, Don joined the Maine Potato Board in 1997 as assistant executive director and was promoted to the top position just 5 years later. Strengthening a vital industry made up of hundreds of growers that employs more than 6,000 hard-working men and women while generating annual sales topping a half-billion dollars is no easy task, but Don has met every challenge.…”