12/15/08 Potato crop size trimmed; Flinchbaugh on ag unity

Washington Ag December 15, 2008 The December crop report from the Ag Statistics Service trimmed five hundredweight an acre from Washington potato yields compared to the November report. That put 2008 production in the state at 93-million hundred weight, down from 102.3 million hundredweight last year. Total U.S. fall spud production at 374 million hundredweight is down eight percent from 2007. Oregon and Idaho held a joint annual grains conference last week in Coeur d 'Alene, Idaho. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers held their own convention last month instead of joining Oregon and Idaho like it had the past two years for a PNW Grains Conference. Barry Flinchbaugh, Kansas State University Economist, who spoke last year and this year at the joint meeting took notice of that and quoted Ben Franklin. Flinchbaugh: "If we do not hang together we will surely hang separately. We just refuse to learn that in agriculture. Where is Washington. It makes no sense to me. I told them that last year. I didn't get invited to speak to their meeting (laughter)." Flinchbaugh said the number one issue for agriculture the next four years is likely to be fighting protectionism. I'm Bob Hoff.