Potato Grower

WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 93 Why Milestone? y Milestone? 1. 1. Over 50 years of hard earned Over 50 years of hard earned Over 50 years of hard earned experience! 2. experience experience 2. 2. Uniform, consistent, and blocky Uniform, c Uniform, c seed piece! 3. seed piece seed piece 3. 3. Attention to detail! 4. 4. 4. Knowledgeable and competent Knowledgeable Knowledgeable support! Knowledgeable Knowledgeable support support! 395 W Hwy 39, Blackfoot ID Phone: 208-785-4285, Toll Free: 800-574-1852 Fax: 208-785-1060 info@milestone-equipment.com www.milestone-equipment.com Potato Seed Cutters Owned and Manufactured in the U.S.A 170018Milest12h.indd 1 11/1/17 10:20 AM who believes that one day soon, such audits will not be restricted to potato sales. "We are leading in this area, but I believe anyone producing food in time to come will be doing what we're doing now. People want to know how you're producing food, so it's just a matter of time until it spreads." SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES ON THE RISE PSI is the leading program in North America for growers producing potatoes for the processing market, with more than 500 potato growers participating, along with six major processors, key buyers including McDonald's and Sysco, and the U.S.'s National Potato Council (NPC) and Canadian Horticultural Council. Potato processors Basic American Foods, Cavendish Farms, Heinz, Lamb Weston, McCain Foods and Simplot—along with McDonald's and Sysco—fund the collaboration, which includes an annual grower survey, reporting on key performance measures including integrated pest management, nutrient and irrigation use efficiency, energy use, recycling and labor practices. The PSI survey must be completed every year by all growers selling into the potato processing market, whose end product is sold by McDonald's or Sysco, which together account for the vast majority of processed potatoes consumed in North America. In the U.S. alone, potatoes have a farm-gate value of $4 billion a year. John Keeling, executive vice president and CEO of the NPC, says the PSI began as an effort to come up with risk mitigation practices with respect to pesticide use, and has now expanded to include other sustainability outcomes. The industry is aware that PSI compliance means added time, money and paperwork for growers. "We've tried to be careful that we're not driving costs into the system," says Keeling. "For us, the end goal is to have a set of metrics and practices that will demonstrate the good job growers are doing and allow us to communicate that in a credible way. We do see that consumers are seeking more information about their food, and we want to respond positively to that." As do the shareholders and investors of the corporate giants selling the vast majority of processed potatoes around the world. Kendra Levine, supply chain sustainability manager with McDonald's USA, says programs such as PSI help the company manage certain sustainability risks connected to protecting water resources and reducing practices that could impact climate change. PSI is only part of the equation, she explains. "Stakeholders want to know that we're engaging in our supply chain working all the way to the farm and that best practices to mitigate risks associated with the use of pesticides, water use and water quality, as examples, are being used," says Levine. "PSI is helpful because it gives us a baseline around practices. Yet we also need to identify where the greatest environmental impacts are in our supply chain. So when we are talking to our suppliers,

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