The Jacob Shur Research Facility, the University of Maine’s plant breeding and propagation facility in Crystal, Maine, is one of the major tissue culture labs in the Northeastern United States and Canada. The facility was built in 1992 for the propagation of disease–free potato seed. It was owned and operated by the S & R Corporation. The laboratory and three greenhouses were built to specifications provided by NatureMark, a subsidiary of the Monsanto company, which leased the facility from 1993 to 1999. The laboratory, greenhouses, and field plots were used to propagate commercial seed stocks. Monsanto ended its program in 1999 and the facility was donated to the University of Maine Foundation in 2003 for use by the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station by Island Falls potato grower Arthur Shur in memory of his father, Jacob Shur. The formal dedication of the facility took place June 24, 2004.

The Jacob Shur Research Facility consists of a state-of-the-art tissue-culture laboratory and three large greenhouses where scientists will use advanced tissue-culture techniques to develop plant varieties for Maine’s climate and soil conditions. The facility includes 6,000 sq. ft. of laboratory and growth room space, 2,500 sq. ft. of ventilated storage, 11,000 sq. ft. of space for equipment and supplies and 13,000 sq. ft. of double poly greenhouses with rolling benches, boom irrigation, heat and ventilation.

Researchers from the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station will use the facility to apply tissue culture and other advanced technologies to the needs of Maine’s agricultural and forest industries. The facility is currently being used in projects ranging from plant propagation to plant hydroponics and embryogenesis.

Techniques such as tissue culture and embryogenesis allow disease-free propagation of genetically identical plants and are much faster than traditional breeding programs. Tissue culture can accomplish in weeks what could take years to achieve in traditional plant breeding; these plants can then be rapidly channeled into commercial uses.

The Shur facility provides laboratory and greenhouse space that allows for propagation of up to a million plants and adds significant new capabilities for UMaine researchers to better meet the needs of Maine’s agricultural and forest industries.

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