BASF and Northwest Potato Growers

BASF and Northwest Potato Growers

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. This year's Potato Expo may have been held in Orlando, Florida, but there were a lot of familiar faces from the Pacific Northwest, for good reason! We grow more potatoes than anywhere else in North America. One of the people I spoke with was Idaho-based BASF representative Curtis Rainbolt, so I asked him what were the biggest problems our growers face ...

RAINBOLT ... "You know, it depends on the area and the season, but late blight would be one of the biggest ones. Another one that's really widespread is white mold disease and the night shades are the biggest weeds that we typically see."

Rainbolt says northwest growers are pretty flexible ...

RAINBOLT ... "Potato growers are really great to work with because most of them are very innovative growers and looking for new things and they also do a good job of stewarding our products. They realize that there's not an unlimited amount of new products coming in so they do a good job of stewardship and management, resistance management. And, so they're always excited to see new technology, but they also protect the older technology that we have out there as well."

Rainbolt says growers here understand they've got quite a reputation to uphold ...

RAINBOLT ... "They take an enormous amount of pride in producing a quality crop. And, they're good stewards of the land. They realize they've got to produce a high-quality crop, but they also have to be effective managers of the land and carefully use all of the tools that they have available to produce a quality crop and also protect the environment."

For more on BASF products, got to basf.com or call your local dealer.

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