Taking advantage of food assistance opportunities

Farm and Ranch Report November 16, 2011 The U.S. Potato Board recently added a consultant to their International Food Assistance Initiative. Teresa Kuwahara, Potato Board Manager of the International Dehy program, says that person is Owen Calvert.

T.K.: “Mr. Calvert brings a lot of experience to the team. He has worked in food security and relief efforts for over 20-years. He was lived and worked in Bhutan to Sudan.”

Having another person on board will help in taking advantage of the tremendous opportunities in food assistance. Kuwahara says the goal is to get one percent of U.S. food aid for dehy.

T.K.” “When you look at the U.S. government, figure in 2007 they provided 1.2 billion dollars in U.S. food aid. So, if you can imagine one percent of that being purchased for U.S. dehydrated potatoes that represents 12 million dollars for the U.S. potato industry. So, this is very important.”

Kuwahara also points out that long term what are food aid recipient countries today, may become commercial buyers in the future.

T.K.: “Botswana for example, that was a former food aid recipient that now imports commercially food products that they used to receive through U.S. government programs.”

That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.