03/24/06 UPGA moves into Salt Lake office

For the past year the grower-owned, grower operated United Potato Growers of America was headquartered in Idaho Falls. Now UPGA is in Salt Lake City near its attorney and the international airport. Julia Cissel is the President and CEO of United of America. She now has four senior level professionals working with her in the Utah office. UPGA was formed in March 2005 by growers to match supply to demand. The co-op's mission; to reverse years of declining and unprofitable prices for growers, which has caused many of them to go out of business. What started in Idaho has spread across the nation. CISSEL "The Klamath area, we also have the Columbia basin area in Washington-Oregon, we have the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and central Wisconsin plus we also have a co-op we call 'at large' which has membership across multiple different states." UPGA is in active talks with seed growers in Montana and producers in the Mid-Atlantic States, plus Canada where United growers in several provinces just signed on. And the message to potato growers is simple, cutback on your plantings again this year. Cissel says they had positive results in '05; they can do it again this year if growers stick together. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott