USPB Next Gen Trials Continue to Benefit Potato Industry

Imagine major competitors coming together to better their industry as a whole Sound far fetch? Well that is exactly what is happening in the potato industry with the NexGen Trials. These trials are grower and processor supported commercial trials that target to demonstrate the commercial capabilities of new varieties in the field and at the processing plants.
United States Potato Board Chip Program Manager David Parish explains
Parish: “The program has been successful and we have early adopters of some of these varieties that look real good. So the industry voted to expand it. So we are currently running six varieties in the NexGen Trials. In 2014 we expanded to 18 — that is a testament to how people believe this is successful. What we have done by setting this program up we’ve gone from one variety a year to six varieties a year to 18 varieties a year. The reason it works is because we’ve taken a bunch of risk out of the system by spreading the costs. We’ve lined up the processors and the producers so that we’ve got somebody to produce it and somebody to process it. So you don’t have growers growing it without no where to go with it or growing it and having a big disaster that they are all on their own financially accountable for. That is the big takeaway of what we are doing.”