07/30/07 Reverse trade mission

The United States Potato Board is hosting a seed industry tour this week for potato growers and dealers from five different nations. Eight of the 26 foreign guests will arrive in Idaho tomorrow. After meeting with officials from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture the potato experts from Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Sri Lanka will visit Randy Bauscher's farm near Fairfield. MAHLER "And there they will get to see a little bit about inspections, talk about APHIS and certification. They'll also get to see some bagging, boxing, brushing and to just learn a little bit about the process." Sarah Mahler of the US Potato Board says the delegation will spend time on Thursday at the Aberdeen Experimental Station learning about the USDA-ARS potato breeding program and Friday they'll be looking at different potato varieties. MAHLER "So really the purpose for them coming would be to see how high quality US seed potatoes are and that they would want to purchase their seed potatoes from the United States versus somewhere else." The delegation is scheduled to leave Idaho Falls on Saturday. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott