Potato Expo Part 2

Potato Expo Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Five years ago the U.S. potato industry made the decision to combine efforts with an annual event now called the Potato Expo. Prior to that each segment of the industry did their own thing. David Fraser, Vice President, Industry Communications & Policy with the United States Potato Board says in addition to some great seminars there is a large trade show.

FRASER: All the booths are giving away some sort of prize. There’s daily drawings. There’s a lot of stuff going on plus just good, solid information. And a chance to catch up with people. It’s also a good chance to catch up with people you don’t see that often maybe and this is the one time a year you see them if you are in different sectors of the industry. A good chance to do business. A chance to catch up with old friends and to some away with a lot of good knowledge and hopefully ideas to make 2013 more profitable than 2012.

2012 was a tough year for the potato industry and Fraser says there will be a lot of studying what happened.

FRASER: This is definitely the meeting to regroup and that’s really why...there was a lot of discussion early on about having the meeting in early December or to have it in early January. It may have been the worst year on record and just a year you want to forget but when that calendar turns to January it’s like a new beginning. It’s a new year. It’s a new start and for what the potato industry was in 2012, too many potatoes and low prices, this is a chance to catch up and to kind of regroup, refocus and start fresh.

This years meeting will take place the second week in January at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas which should help bolster the mood a bit.

FRASER: It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be good. And you know the good thing about it, you look at the steering committee, you look at John Keeling has worked over the seed and the frozen are and Tim has worked over the chip and the fresh areas and the steering committee continues to to put together a good strong program. The thing is you can have a good show, you have a good trade show, you have great network opportunities but if the content, if the meat isn’t there it’s hard for guys to justify spending that much money and spending a week away from home and their operation.

But Fraser says the content has always stayed current, strong and relevant to the industry.

FRASER: If you’ve never been to Expo or are thinking about going but not really sure, go. You won’t regret it.

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