Correction on Potatoes

 In a recent article, Nate Knife of the Idaho Statesman wrote the following: “Idaho potato crop acreage is down this year, but you won't hear growers complaining. Fewer acres mean higher prices. And those farmers not growing potatoes this year have met success with substitution crops. The National Agricultural Statistics Service says that Idaho potato stocks are down 20 percent from last year. The lower acreage - 300,000, down from about 350,000 - is due to the influence of the United Potato Growers of Idaho, according to the group's president and CEO, Jerry Wright.

Well…we talked to Jerry Wright. “I’ve talked with the reporter and the people at the Idaho Statesman where it originally came out, they really didn’t get the facts straight at all. In 2008 there were 300,000 acres planted. This story really relates to 2008 and not to 2009. In fact there were 300,000 acres of potatoes planted in Idaho in the 2008 crop which we are just finishing up and indeed it was one of the smallest crops we’ve produced in the last 35 years. He went to Nass and also got the prices that were printed in there which don’t relate to any market prices at all nor the returns that growers are seeing today”

Good to set the record straight, and you have to admit, these are complicated facts and figures.