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.
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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
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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