Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/15761
I AM THE USPB BREAKING OUT. Andy as part of a panel during the processor break session. Q. CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITIES? DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC NICHE YOU EXCEL WITH? a. we don’t do any of our own marketing. we work with most of the major marketers in the state and have been very happy with those relationships. this has allowed us a lot of flexibility and they have always been very fair. we typically ship our fresh potatoes to the east Coast, but again, that depends on the marketer and the customer. we ship everything from three-pound bags up to 2,200-pound totes, but don’t do cartons, nor do we pack any of the specialty items like individually wrapped potatoes. in general, we don’t ship internationally, but i think you are going to see the wisconsin shippers work more aggressively going into Canada and mexico. we are normally on the early side of the harvest window for the state, so a pretty healthy chunk of our fresh potatoes 20 Potato Grower | SEPTEMBER 2010 are reds and whites that we try to ship in early august. the mixture of off-the-field shipments and storage potatoes, along with servicing three markets of fresh, process and chip works out pretty well in most years for our operation, allowing us to keep all the part-time help busy from early august until the last of the fresh potatoes are shipped. Q. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A MEMBER OF THE USPB? WHAT COMMITTEES HAVE YOU SERVED ON? a. i’m in my sixth and final year on the usPb. my term will be over at the annual meeting in march of 2011. i served for the last three years on the industry Communications and Policy Committee and have really enjoyed my time there. i don’t have any particular marketing expertise, so my skills were more useful on that committee as we worked to update the usPb grower database