Potato Grower

July 2010 Potato Grower

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POTATO POTATO POTATO GROWER May 2009 - $3.95 - Serving The National Potato Industry - www.potatogrower.com GROWER May 2009 - $3.95 - Serving The National Potato Industry - www.potatogrower.com published 13 times a year by Harris Publishing Inc. GROWER May 2009 - $3.95 - Serving The National Potato Industry - www.potatogrower.com Subscriptions: U.S. and Possessions $24.00 per year, International $44.00 per year. Copyright 2010 Harris Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Back issues available at $5 per copy. Limited quantities. Publisher not responsible for content of materials submitted. PRESIDENT Jason Harris VICE PRESIDENT Chuck Harris VICE PRESIDENT Ryan Harris VICE PRESIDENT Steve Janes TREASURER Clayton Ward SECRETARY Janet Chase Canadian Publisher’s Agreement No. 40606038, Customer No. 7004671. Mailed under a standard rate mailing permit at Idaho Falls, Idaho, and at additional mailing offices. Also Publishers of: Sugar Producer Mountain West Turf ADVERTISING Dave Alexander dave@potatogrower.com Rob Erickson rob.erickson@potatogrower.com GROUP SECRETARY Magdalene Mercado PRODUCTION Janet Chase Jim Donovan Dayne Dingman GRAPHIC ARTIST Angela Hardy MARKETING Robin Black CIRCULATION Yvonne Young Eula Endecott IT DEPARTMENT Chuck Harris Darrin Steffler ACCOUNTING Clayton Ward Laura Rafferty IDAHO GROWER SHIPPER ASSOCIATION Phone: 208-529-4400 www.idahoshippers.com IDAHO POTATO COMMISSION Phone: 208-334-2350 www.idahopotato.com NATIONAL POTATO COUNCIL Phone: 202-682-9456 www.nationalpotatocouncil.org Corporate Offices: HARRIS PUBLISHING INC. 360 B Street Idaho Falls, ID 83402 208-524-7000 Fax 208-522-5241 www.potatogrower.com POTATO GROWERS OF IDAHO Phone: 208-785-1110 www.potatogrowersofidaho.com SOUTHERN IDAHO POTATO COOPERATIVE Phone: 208-234-7472 Email: sidpco@msn.com UNITED POTATO GROWERS OF AMERICA Phone: 801-517-9000 www.unitedpotatosusa.com Printed in Idaho Falls, Idaho by Falls Printing dave@fallsprinting.com UNITED STATES POTATO BOARD Phone: 303-369-7783 www.uspotatoes.com I DON’T WATCH BROADCAST TV. I don’t have the time, and even if I did, the home I live in doesn’t even have an antenna, so our digital converter box really isn’t worth much more than a doorstop. And there’s so much filth and garbage on satellite TV that I can’t bring myself to fork over $30-plus a month to expose my small children to stuff that adults should be ashamed of themselves for watching. Not all of it is bad. There’s much to be learned from programs on channels like History, National Geographic and Discovery. (Like Myth Busters! Now THAT is a job! Building and blowing stuff up for the sake of science!) Even though I most likely couldn’t name very many hosts, one name I’m probably going to remember now is Mike Rowe, host of a program called Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. His objective is, in his own words, “To labor as an apprentice with regular men and women, doing the kind of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us,” showing how much blood, sweat and tears it takes to earn that paycheck. Not long ago, I was forwarded an email with a link to a featured article on his website at www. mikeroweworks.com. The article is called “The Future of Farming,” and we’ve linked it on our own website, at www.potatogrower.com. In this article, which was posted a few months ago, he talks about how he was the keynote speaker at the 82nd National Convention of The Future Farmers of America in Indianapolis on October 21. While trying to gather his thoughts about 20 minutes before he was to go on stage, a statement in the FFA Briefing Packet caught his eye. It declared that the organization is enduring such an “image and perception problem” that they’re simply calling themselves by the three-letter acronym rather than the full name. This became the inspiration to his speech, and later to this blog. The article is very interesting to read. He laments that society has become so disconnected from our food that future growers aren’t even being called “farmers” anymore because of the stereotyping that goes along with it. (Hee Haw anyone?) As growers, we know the truth about how environmental groups push our industry farther and farther into a corner, and time and again we figure out a way to comply with their ludicrous demands. And yet we’re still vilified, and no one bothers listening to a grower’s educated point of view because it’s dismissed as being uneducated. So when I read this article the first time, I was amazed. It isn’t often a person who can justifiably be called a “celebrity” actually comes out and publicly defends growers. It tragically seems to be the other way around—for some stupid reason, it seems that anyone who has access to the public spotlight has something disparaging to say about the sector of the economy that allows them to live: agriculture. EDITORIAL Tyler J. Baum tbaum@potatogrower.com Nancy Sanchez nancy@potatogrower.com Dr. Phil Nolte, UI Potato Specialist pnolte@uidaho.edu Channeling the FFA PUBLISHER Jason Harris FROM THE FIELD by Tyler J. Baum, Editor

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