Potato Storage grant

Potato Storage grant

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
The Idaho Potato Commission invests over half a million dollars in potato research funding each year to the University of Idaho in Moscow. One of the reasons the Potato Commission puts the dollar amounts that they do in here… and we would put more if we had more money, that’s how confident we are in the research team that is at the University of Idaho and working solely on potatoes,” said Nick Blanksma, Elmore County Farm Bureau President.

 “Storage is huge. You’ve got to think about it. We harvest for about three months out of the year. So, the other nine months out of the year we have to pull out of storage in order to have a year-round supply of potatoes being supplied to our customers and to consumers throughout the world.

“So having a storage physiologist, somebody who can work with us amongst emerging varieties, you know new varieties, old varieties, anything we can do to enhance the quality of the  product, and to be able to have a consistent, steady supply to all of the consumers; that’s what we’re after with that position,” said Blanksma.

“It’s just important to understand the diseases. And each variety has different storage characteristics, so you have to alter your temperatures, you have to understand what chemistries work with the storage, and what doesn’t,” said Potato growers and former commissioners Doug Gross

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