WSPC Commissioner Elected & Taste Washington Day

The Washington State Potato Commission has elected Mike Madsen to fill the at-large commissioner position. Madsen, who has also served on the WSPC Research and Technical Committee and has had a long and successful career working in the potato industry, will be serving a three year term on the Commission, and says he is looking forward to utilizing his lifelong experience of working with potatoes to best serve the industry.

The Washington School Nutrition Association has been doing Taste Washington Day for several years, in which Washington agriculture products are highlighted in schools all around the state. In 2010 the WSNA partnered with the WSDA and worked closely together to plan a school lunch menu that would include a variety of Washington grown foods. WSDA’s Tricia Sexton Kovacs explains how they brought schools and farmers together.

KOVACS: We put out a call to farmers and a call to schools to let us know they were interested.
From there we were able to build a data base of interested parties that we could then match up by geographic area and by products they were looking for.

Just how well received has this farm to school project been?

KOVACS: We’ve heard from schools that they feel they’re getting a positive feedback from the media - from families and students. So, they’re having a really good day with their relationships in their own communities during Taste Washington Day.

Tomorrow Kovacs talks about more about the positive recognition Taste Washington Day brings to school food service programs and local farms.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.