Potato Strategy

 A recent article in the Idaho Statesman discussed potato acreage and pricing and the facts weren’t exactly accurate but it did bring to mind the question of what goes on in the mind of potato producers as they approach the marketplace. It’s pretty sophisticated as Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir explains: “The ’08 harvest, that acreage was down 50,000 from the year before and that was really driven by some of our potato farmers moving to alternative rotation crops that they would normally rotate with anyway. The unique situation here is that because of ethanol prices going through the roof last year it was a great opportunity for them to jump into those crops knowing that they have a one year window to take advantage of it and they did! Those growers took benefit from higher corn costs or wheat or barley or hay…whatever it might be, and are more so coming back into potatoes this year. So you’ve got 2 factors working. Last year the acres went down because of that and because United Co-op that is encouraging growers to plant fewer potatoes to make sure we don’t have an overabundance of supply because that’s when you will depress prices. What we’re trying to do as best as we can is meet demand.”