28 Potato Grower | JANUARY 2015
Today the Tri-State Potato Research
and Breeding Program is a thriving
collaboration of the USDA-ARS of the
three states, the University of Idaho,
Oregon State University, Washington State
University, and each state's respective
potato commission. In 1984 the USDA
began allowing potatoes to be variety-
protected, eventually leading to the Tri-
State Program, particularly the involved
potato commissions, founding the Potato
Variety Management Institute (PVMI)
in 2005.
"Universities had been going through
the paperwork of protecting varieties,"
Considerable
Cultivar
Collection
THE TRI-STATES' POTATO MANAGEMENT
VARIETY INSTITUTE
BY TYRELL MARCHANT
PHOTOS COURTESY POTATO MANAGEMENT VARIETY INSTITUTE
In 1949, in a nod to the Pacific Northwest's
prolific potato production capabilities, the USDA
established a potato research breeding program
at its research station in Aberdeen, Idaho.
While it had been Idaho which initially went
to the USDA with the idea of a potato breeding
program, from the onset the program was
intended to serve the industry throughout Idaho,
Oregon and Washington.
Out of the ground. Selections at the "Tree Farm" near Klamath Falls, Ore.
