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36 POTATO GROWER | SEPTEMBER 2019 FINANCIAL MASOCHISM The term masochism derives from the name of 19th-century German novelist Leopold von Sacher- Masoch, whose prose included unspeakable acts that people supposedly inflicted upon themselves from which they got a sordid type of pleasure. Multiple investigations into what Masoch wrote concluded that what he described in his writing turned out to be figments of his perverse imagination. But Masoch's sensationalism did build his audience and increase book sales. Today, in a totally different twist, humorists label a person masochistic who inadvertently makes a poor decision, one that is obviously wrong to everyone watching, and winds up suffering because of it. In reference to potato production, there are potato- producing regions that consistently kill their market price by glutting the very market they must have to survive, not to mention to prosper. Can this sort of behavior be called financial masochism? Yes and no. To be truly financially masochistic, those who perpetrate this market fiasco must first know how to avoid the disaster and then go ahead and do it anyway, in spite of that knowledge. To those looking from the outside in, this appears to be what is happening because it happens year after year, and it happens in the very face of competing regions' ability to prosper year after year by whole dollars per hundredweight because they do things differently: They look at United's supply-and- demand data, and then they manage. Logical stuff. Everyone acknowledges the maxim that what can be measured can be managed. Those who founded the United Potato Growers of America did so because no dataset existed by which the vital supply/ demand equation could be measured and thus managed. If it is true that what cannot be measured cannot be managed, how could those who invest thousands of dollars per acre to produce potatoes be expected to manage that risk in a measurement vacuum? They couldn't. So, they designed and built a database and a support system for that database capable of providing precise market measurement information. From the day that supply and demand forecast measurements came into being, potato growers who have heeded that data have enjoyed stable potato markets—and not only fresh potato markets, but process potato markets as well. Persons who in real life inflict pain upon themselves usually do so unintentionally, like when poor judgment results in a painful outcome or when they make a poor decision due to lack of sufficient education or experience to guide that decision. Neither of these cases applies—or should apply— today to potato production. A simple look around at regions that observe and follow supply and demand forecasting (enabled by United's ample data) and their resulting market stability makes the case that measuring demand and managing supply works. That is what United's founders had in mind when they set out on their journey to give potato production a reliable economic platform. Because of this economic platform, the culture of potato production is not what it used to be. So, if masochism is a must, please take up golf and leave potato production to the professionals. United Potato Growers of America By Buzz Shahan Chief Operating Officer Because of United's economic platform, the culture of potato production is not what it used to be, and growers are much more able to protect themselves. Avoiding market pain ought to be a simple matter. www.montanaspud.org Uncompromising Standards, Generation after Generation. We have the seed for you! For a FREE Certifi cation Directory, email Dr. Nina Zidack at potatocert@montana.edu 167820MonPot13h.indd 1 9/18/17 11:45 AM