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42 POTATO GROWER | JULY 2018 PH: 218-346-3357 • Toll Free: 888-884-8070 47418 US Hwy 10 Perham, MN 56573 • w w w . b t u v e n t . c o m 165656BTUVen13s.indd 1 1/23/17 3:10 PM DRIVING FORCE What truly drives your business? United Potato Growers of America By Buzz Shahan Chief Operating Officer The good old days may not have been all that good. With new information, these promise to be the good new days. What portion of potato growers do you suppose fully utilize the principal driver of their economic survival, not to mention prosperity? Bertie Charles Forbes (1880-1954) was a Scottish-born American journalist. He arrived in America an impoverished but educated young man and, following a string of journalism jobs, founded Forbes magazine. He died not just successful, but wealthy. He knew the publishing business in such unmatched detail that he had no peer of comparable ability. Consider Forbes' business philosophy in his quote, "If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business." Many of you who read this article are in the produce business—namely, the fresh potato sector of the fresh produce business. This is the business that you must drive or allow yourself to be driven. By allowing your business to be driven, you will inherit its result rather than drive the result you need. Some readers are in the process potato business, but because supply excesses between fresh and process sectors often overlap—and not always accidentally—both sectors find themselves in the same boat but rowing in opposite directions. To achieve Forbes's image of driving one's business, one must understand that supply awareness exceeds all other methods of driving profitability in potato production and therefore keep tabs on the entire industry's supply picture. It seemed in the good old days that just managing potato production agronomics was sufficient for a grower to assure financial survival. Actually, the good old days weren't all that good. For decades, potato markets swung wildly about: feast or famine, and mostly famine. Think of all those you know who are no longer in the business. But times change. Cultures change. Just as has happened in other fresh vegetable cultures, and because price results more from supply's influence than from any other production factor, a sophisticated potato supply database has been developed to guide growers' supply decisions. So, rather than the good old days, these promise to be the good new days wherein ascertaining price- positive supply volumes and keeping supply By allowing your business to be driven, you will inherit its result rather than drive the result you need.