08/17/06 WPC, impact part two

The World Potato Congress in Boise later this month will attract up to a thousand visitors from around the world. Mowbray Brown of the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau attended the WPC in China two years ago. BROWN "The scale of the potato business here, the size of the fields, the size of the industry, the size of the potatoes will all be eye opening to a lot of people around the world." The World Potato Congress and the Farm Show that follows in Wilder August 24th through the 26th is another economic benefit to Ada and Canyon counties, Idaho's growing urban center. BROWN "People spend an average of 215 dollars a day per person at a convention. We're looking at something like a million dollars in that kind of spending which is room and board and just incidental stuff. The farm show which will have a bigger impact on the whole rest of southwestern Idaho I think should have closer to three million dollars of impact and that's just direct spending by the people who will be here to produce the show and that's not really counting the people who will come to attend the show." The University of Idaho and Simplot have invested time and money into potato and grain fields for the Farm Show where people from all over the Northwest are expected to attend. It all starts in Boise when WPC attendees begin arriving August 20th. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott