2011 Potato Expo

Tuesday Jan 4th, 2011 23 Views Line on Agriculture

2011 Potato Expo. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

This week the 2011 Potato Expo gets under way in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the 3rd annual Expo which brings together all 4 sectors of the potato industry; chip, seed, fresh and processed. Prior to the first Expo three years ago all four groups held separate meetings and according to John Keeling with the National Potato Council it’s been a big hit.

KEELING: It’s a real validation that the potato industry saw the importance of bringing all of the various sectors together and addressing issues and listening to speakers on topics that were critical to the industry. So it’s just been a real positive response.

Of course there’s always a lot of talk going on both in the sessions and in the hallways.

KEELING: You’ve got what’s going on inside the sessions and you’ve got what discussions are happening in the hallways. The sessions are going to focus a lot on sustainability, there’s going to be some big discussions on biotechnology and the role biotechnology might play in the potato industry. And then in the hallways I think you are going to hear some of those same topics discussed broadly but you’re going to hear a lot of people talking about the price of potatoes.

One of the main positives behind a group meeting like this according to Keeling is networking.

KEELING: It’s access to real quality speakers on important issues for your industry and it’s too the networking. It is a who’s who of the potato industry. You walk down the halls and you see everybody you’ve known throughout your life in the industry.

In the end the 2011 Potato Expo is really about growing good potatoes.

KEELING: You’ve got an industry while everybody produces those potatoes some of those potatoes are for seed, some of those potatoes are for frozen, processed and some are fresh but at the core of it it’s all about growers growing potatoes and trying to be profitable doing it. And bringing everybody together where the issues discussed from all those perspectives I think was real valuable.

This year’s keynote speaker will be NFL legend Terry Bradshaw. I will once again be attending the meeting as both reporter for the NW Ag Network and as a media representative for the potato industry. See you Vegas.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.