05/18/07 Transition meeting; Greenhouse gas plan

The United Potato Growers of America will host the first annual Crop Transition conference next month in Minneapolis. The June 5th conference provides a forum for potato growers to discuss and manage the crop transition period, that time when shipping the previous year's stored crop diminishes and harvesting the new crop begins. UPGA says that's when the market price decline usually occurs every July and August. Out of this meeting they hope to begin a process that gives growers better statistical information so they can make better marketing decisions. Speaking of decisions, Governor Butch Otter has issued an executive order establishing a policy on the role of state government in reducing greenhouse gases. Otter's order says in part that the "Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall develop a greenhouse gas emission inventory and provide recommendations to the Governor on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Idaho, recognizing Idaho's interest in continued growth, economic development and energy security." Otter says its incumbent that the states take the leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while developing new energy sources and using what he now have more efficiently. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott