09/08/05 United`s planting guidelines for 2006

They want to keep the ball rolling. United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho has already sent out its 2006 planting guidelines to producers even before they've harvested this year's spud crop. WRIGHT "Asking everyone to go back to their '04 base, to plan on planting eight to ten percent fewer acres off that '04 base, not the '05 base they just planted but the '04 base." United CEO Jerry Wright says growers could have a small acreage increase because this year Idaho fresh potato acreage was down 15 to 17 percent. WRIGHT "There will be ample potatoes to supply fry processors, to supply the fresh market and to supply dehydrators. It's incumbent upon growers to use wisdom and restraint as they move this crop forward or else they could over ship the crop and actually run out of potatoes. But if we manage the flow of product into the marketplace this will be a balanced crop and everybody will get all the spuds they need." Wright says producers went way overboard last year growing one and a half billion pounds of potatoes that nobody wanted. WRIGHT "Every consumer in the United States would have to eat four more pounds of potatoes a year than they eat today." It's that overproduction that they want to avoid next year and down the road now that potato prices have seen some improvement. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott